Stargate Universal Sin Episode 6
by Lone-ranger1
Summary: Injured in a fall, John contemplates how things got to the point they are. Sam welcomes an old friend to Atlantis, and is surprised at the outcome. Meanwhile, Rodney gets help from an unexpected source, and the war takes a radical turn.. on both sides.
1. Chapter 1

**Episode 6 Flight**

_A/N: The next two chapters are a little more John/Sam friendship/angst centric, but it's balanced out with plenty of other character moments. Rodney's pretty big in this chapter too with a special guest appearance from... someone. :P What happens here will be addressed later._

_To Gatie: as far as John/Sam goes, this series is more about friendship and development. There's angst and even a little tragedy coming up so it's going to be very deep for quite a few characters. Glad you're enjoying it!_

_---------------------------------_

Dr. Jennifer Keller couldn't help but notice that Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard was already inside Colonel Samantha Carter's office awaiting her. She knew that the Lieutenant Colonel was insistent on her having an escort for this mission of mercy, but it wasn't the first time she'd been off world. "Hey… mind if I join the party?"

Sam and John both nodded and waved her to sit down. John began. "We've been going over your report on M5V-801…"

Sam continued eloquently. "…About their air quality and the tremors they keep having…"

Seamlessly John again spoke, even as he unwrapped a lollipop and began to suck on it. "… You know, things that don't really make for the best homes."

Jennifer had to resist laughing. It was like watching a sitcom or something. "Yes, Major Lorne accompanied me last time and well… they weren't that keen on taking up our offer of sanctuary without some assurance that we don't have some ulterior motive. They've heard a lot from their trade partners and well…"

"Yes…? And well?" Sam kept her voice calm, almost reassuring.

Jennifer grimaced slightly. Hearing about it from the people in the village was _not_ something that she wanted to recount. "Well… it turns out that the Genii actually took over that planet about 20 years ago and sort of put them to work in the mines."

John instantly bristled a bit, their latest experience with a Genii ambush party had nearly cost a Marine Captain her life. "So they're not too trusting of outsiders?"

With a deadpan expression, Jennifer sighed. "To put it mildly. They've got a list of demands a mile and a half long."

Sam groaned softly and sighed as well. "What do they want?" before Jennifer could answer, she raised her hand and stopped her. "Wait… it doesn't matter… I'm too busy to get involved anyway. More of Larrin's people are arriving today and the Daedalus is finally ready to take off again." She looked to John. "Think you can handle one negotiation?"

A soft groan left John's lips, but he nodded. "Uhh… negotiating with alien settlements is _not_ what I joined the air force for…" He looked up to Sam and saw her expectant gaze, and knew he had to do it. "Oh alright… can I take a Jumper at least?" Sam made a disapproving expression now, and despite it being laced with humor, John got up and used the lollipop he was sucking on to emphasize his movements. "Right… I'll just get our gear ready…excuse me…"

As he scampered out of Sam's office, Jennifer oddly noted that it wasn't the only lollipop in the room… Sam had one on her desk. Blue and unopened.

'_Meh… guess John was feeling generous.'_

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"Tell me the Address to Atlantis… _Now!"_

Rodney tried to fight the grip of the Wraith holding him, but the steel that made up his arms wouldn't budge at all despite all the thrashing. Rodney screamed incomprehensibly as he tried to escape.

The Wraith menacingly tantalized Rodney by moving his fingers in front of his face. "Your friends were quite tasty, and while I have had my fill, I would not mind a dessert."

The tears coming from Rodney's eyes were heartfelt, and the sobbing did nothing to stop the Wraith. "… you're just gonna kill me anyway…"

With a growl, the Wraith tossed Rodney to the ground. "You have use… none of these…" he motioned to Major Lorne's team around him, all dead with the Major himself having fought to the death, being the lucky one who wasn't fed on, "…are any use beyond food… So tell me… What is the address to Atlantis?"

It was too much… Rodney just wanted to have it all end. "… you might as well kill me… because I'll never…"

The Wraith slammed his feeding palm into Rodney's chest, and he could feel the strange sensation of one's life being absorbed… slowly…

In the real world, Talia now empathized with the human suffering of Rodney McKay. It had taken days worth of compiling and analyzing, but finally she had the machine equivalent of the human emotions Dr McKay was feeling.

Perhaps this is what Niam was talking about… certainly it was… different.

But no matter. Dr McKay would give up the address sooner or later, and with Oberoth running new programs every few hours now, it was estimated that at most another day would be needed to completely change his brain chemistry to allow memory extraction.

Just a matter of time.

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"So how was your trip back to Earth?"

John resisted rolling his eyes. "It was for my Father's wake."

Jennifer knew that, but somehow in the need to say _something_ had once again made a fool out of herself. "Oh… yeah… well… I'm sorry for your loss… I just thought that well… you know…? Earth?"

This time John did indeed roll his eyes, the Marines watching their back for any Genii stood off to the side watching carefully. "Yeah I know… it was fine. Nothing new going on there...

The grassy field they were walking in was pleasant, just like most of the planets they'd been to. In fact John felt a certain sense of calm here… something he enjoyed about his typical everyday life in Pegasus... at least before the shit hit the fan.

"Oh… well at least you and Sam managed to convince the IOA to keep hearing us out."

John didn't reply… hearing the word's _'you and Sam'_ brought back a memory from that last night on Earth.

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"You like Ferris Wheels?"

Sam's surprised face was only there for a moment, and she instinctively replied. "Uhh... yeah… I guess so…" Now she furrowed her brow in confusion. "You... didn't come here just to ask me that... _did you_?" It was one of the strangest questions she'd been asked recently, and the confusion made it difficult to see what John wanted.

John had plenty of experience asking women out, and he knew the biggest hurdle was just doing it… so he did it."…You wanna go out? There's a carnival tonight and I wanted to do something before we headed back.."

"A carnival?" Again Sam wore her confused expression, almost as if what John was asking was a little too much for her to comprehend.

Playing it stupid was a safe way to go… and John suddenly felt the need to feel safe. "Yeah you know…? Cotton Candy, Ferris Wheels, the obligatory teddy bear I'm supposed to win."

Sam finally understood what John was asking… and the realization was laced heavily with disbelief. "Are… Are you _asking me out_ John?" It was dumbfounding, Did John _really_ just ask her out?!

"And if I am?" Unflinching, John stared back almost defiantly. Never back down… never regret what you've done… He had his hand in the cookie jar… might as well take _something!_

Not expecting him to hold his ground, Sam was even more confused than before. It was so unlike anytime she'd been asked out before… Let alone by a fellow officer! Even Jack had _never_ been so forward… although his constant invitations to go fishing were obvious… "Well… that's… _wow_... John… you know this... well it's not exactly… _proper_."

John nodded, he'd been going over it in his head since thinking of asking her and now his answer was exactly what John felt. "I know… but I also think we both need a break. I just wanna unwind a bit and I really think we'll have fun."

Sam saw the resolute confidence in his posture, and knew that he really did think that. "…You're serious aren't you?" The shock was wearing off, and now Sam could see that yes... indeed he was serious.

"When's the next time we'll be here Sam? A month? A year? Never? So yeah… yeah I guess I am serious." Now John felt he was reaching a little… but in the circumstances it felt like Sam needed just a little shove in the right direction… When she didn't say anything for a moment though as she stood wide mouthed, John decided to give her the option. "You don't have to say yes Sam… I'm asking because I think you'll enjoy it." Giving her an out wasn't what John usually did, but he knew that tact and flexibility would prevent any... _awkwardness._

With a sudden smile, Sam held her hand up to keep him where he was. John had obviously thought about this awhile and it seemed wrong to just shoot him down… it didn't seem like he was _trying _to be improper. Besides, he was right about needing to unwind. "No no… no it's not that… It's just...Well I guess I'm just a little surprised is all."

His expression said it all. "Honestly…? Me too."

It took a few seconds for Sam to think it all over… could she go out with her second in command? Certainly it wasn't the only time she'd gone out with fellow officers… but… what exactly did _John_ want?

It was a weird train of thought and Sam ran with it… What exactly did _she_ want for that matter? The past few weeks had been so arduous that Sam had really begun to consider her future… if she even had one.

Earth was… well Earth was home… but it was also home away from home at the same time… Where did Sam belong? Did she belong here...? Forever playing tag with Jack O'Neill? Sam knew the folly of playing that dangerous game… It was all well and over… Pete… Kerry… but the scar still remained. It was a constant reminder that things might just not go the way she wanted… or maybe Sam just didn't know what she wanted.

But Sam knew that being on Earth brought other feelings up... 12 years of gallivanting around the galaxy... the majority of her adult life had been spent on this and Sam wasn't sure she could go back to... _civilian..._ life. But that brought up so many issues... so many opportunities lost in the name of duty...

So as she looked into the rugged face looking back at her… the suave intellect and unyielding confidence… Sam decided that seeing as this could quite possibly be her last night on Earth… why not? "… Okay … okay we'll go. Give me a few minutes to freshen up… I'll knock on your door."

_--------------------------------_

It had been an interesting night to say the least, so interesting in fact that as John thought about it, he didn't notice the odd indentation in the ground and stepped right on it.

John's yelp of surprise at suddenly falling 20 feet onto a pile of old crates completely wiped out his train of thought. A moment later followed by Jennifer's screams. "Colonel Sheppard!"

Coughing loudly at the sudden pain in his abdomen and dust in the air, John tried to yell back. "_No….!"_

All that came out was a hoarse gasp, and John grimaced as he saw Jennifer's face up above the newly enlarged hole. The sound of one of the Marines behind her screaming _'No!'_ didn't help either, and a moment later Jennifer came down as well… unfortunately right on top of John as he lay on the broken crates.

Unlike John's yelp, Jennifer screamed in shock at the sudden drop and groaned loudly as she hit the floor. John instantly felt the taste of copper in his mouth… he'd been injured severely, enough to need serious medical attention.

Jennifer recovered after a minute, and John's radio began to squawk. _"Colonel Sheppard! Dr Keller! Report!"_

John wanted to reply, but suddenly he found his voice lacking… the pain in his abdomen was serious, and now as he looked down he saw why… and so did Jennifer.

The doctor's voice became hushed as she recovered from the fall. "Oh my god… John…"

A rather large shard of the wood had imbedded itself into his side, along with dozens of splinters along his body from the stale old wood. "Oh… well that's just _perfect_…!" Finally the strength to speak loudly came back to him. "This is Colonel Sheppard… we're… we're alright… for the most part."

Jennifer immediately entered her medic mode, and searched around desperately for her pack, she grabbed her radio that was still attached to her vest and began to bark orders. "Marine! This is Doctor Keller! Colonel Sheppard has been wounded and we need immediate assistance from Atlantis! Go back, get a jumper and bring a rapid response medical team with you!"

John tried to get up, but feeling the wood begin to grind against his stomach let a loud groan out as he also yelled into the radio. "Do it Marine! _*cough*_ we'll be okay! Just go!"

"_Yes sir!"_

The signal cut out, and Jennifer finally found her medical pack. "Oh great…. This is just great… stupid klutz… someone falls down and what do you do? You chase them down!"

With a half laughing scoff, John muttered. "I can hear you you know?"

Jennifer turned an exasperated face back to him and finally fished out the medical supplies she wanted. "Oh… I just.. god I mutter sometimes okay? Now come on… let's see how bad it is…"

She quickly ran over and without hesitation, began to cut away at his clothes to reach his wounds. The dust hadn't even completely settled yet before John could feel the needleless injection in his deltoid. It still stung though. "Ow… what was that?"

"Ciprofloxacin."

John instantly flinched, he knew _damn well_ what that was. "What?! Cipro? _Anthrax?!_"

Jennifer scoffed softly and held him down. "Calm down…! I know a lot of soldiers think Cipro is just for anthrax…but it's a really good anti-biotic too… I have no clue what kind of bacteria are in this place…" she looked around now, unsure of where _this place_ was. "...wherever we are… and I don't want to risk you getting an infection."

"Oh… well… that's mildly comforting… now can we do something about the _jagged piece of wood in my gut?!"_

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Sam stepped down towards the gate room and almost ran as she embraced her long time friend. "Daniel! Oh my god…. You have no clue how happy I am you're here."

Daniel chuckled softly and put his bag down. He gave Sam a nice friendly hug. "Hey Sam… you're not the only one happy I'm here." He looked up and around and sighed in contemplative bliss. "I missed this place."

Waving him along, as the latest relief supplies were being carted through, Sam led Daniel through the halls to his new quarters. "I figured with all the chaos in this galaxy right now, the IOA would want to send more people to explore the city."

It was a bit of a sobering thought. The fact that they could potentially lose the city to the Wraith or Asurans made Daniel grimace just slightly. "Yeah well… Here's hoping that doesn't happen. Jack's still working hard to get the IOA to see things your way and let you evacuate these people." Daniel looked back at the gate and saw the truckloads of supplies moving through. "Is it just me or is that like a million times more than what you actually need?"

Sam looked at the truckloads worth of supplies and smiled faintly. "Gotta be prepared…" A memory came back to her… the last night in DC with John.

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"I can't believe you bribed your way in here…"

John chuckled softly and used one of the silk napkins on the table to wipe his hands. "Bribed… paid… it's all relative. Once they found out who I was they stopped jacking the price."

Sam laughed softly, and thought of how ridiculous they must seem. A 5 star restaurant and they both looked like your average townie. She even had a big plastic bag with the stuffed toys they'd won at the Carnival on the floor next to her.

Sitting in this private room with candles, silverware that cost more than Sam's car, and silk that was such a high thread count Sam couldn't even spot the individual threads made her feel so out of place. "I hope you realize this is the most humiliated I've ever been." It was said with a smile, wanting to tease John for being such a strange date.

With a shrug, John waved over the waiter who'd just entered, it was hard to keep from laughing at the expression he had. "Why?"

"Because! Look at us…! I've driven past this restaurant god knows how many times and I always see…" Sam knew John was teasing her, but this was seriously the last thing she'd expected and was unsure... and Sam never liked being unsure.

"Custom Armani Suits? Ten thousand dollar dresses?" Suggested John.

With the Waiter slowly making his way, obviously a little distressed over his customers, Sam kept her voice down to attract even less attention. "Well… yes! Look at us! I feel like one of those Sears mannequins! I'm just waiting for them to kick us out."

John shook his head, and reaching into his pocket he put his wallet on the table. "Come on… I'm sure you've had worse out there." He motioned upwards to the sky. "Besides, All these guys care about is this…" John patted his wallet. "…so trust me, we're fine."

It wasn't often Sam saw someone use their wallet as muscle, and when the waiter finally arrived, John smirked almost deviously to him. "Evenin'"

"Good Evening… _sir…_ I feel obligated to tell you that this restaurant has a dress code that we do enforce."

John looked over to Sam, her jeans, dark blue shirt and black leather jacket weren't the most formal thing he'd ever seen. Then again he wasn't dressed any better. John saw her face going _'Told ya so'_ and then looked back up to the waiter. "So jeans and a banana republic shirt don't meet that requirement?"

"No Sir."

Feigning deep thought, John rubbed his chin pensitively as he reached over to his wallet. "I guess we're gonna have to fix that. Here." He pulled out a credit card from his wallet. "Take that, go next door to Versace and get us something fitting. Something mid-high range… say…" He looked over to Sam who now had a face of pure shock. "…something blue and contemporary for the dear lady, and black for myself; Modern style."

It was a few seconds before the Waiter was able to reply, his stunned face now examining the credit card. To his surprise, it showed that it would certainly pay for everything John had just ordered five times over. "Uhh… sir… this is most atypical…"

John rolled his eyes, pulled out a small wad of fresh bills from the fold in the wallet and gently tucked it into the waiter's shirt pocket. "I wouldn't expect you to go above and beyond for nothing."

Now appeased, the Waiter recovered from his shock, much sooner than Sam who was now wide eyed and jaw slightly askew. "Very well Sir. I shall… see what I can do. Would you like an appetizer before the Maitre D' comes to take your order?'

With a motion of his head, John acknowledged Sam. "You want anything?"

A quick shake of her head, and almost imperceptible reply. "_No…!"_ Sam's tone was sharp and almost aghast. This was certainly the strangest date she'd ever been on.

John bit back his laughter and looked back to the waiter. "How 'bout some Chateau Letour Paulliac; you must have a couple bottles in the cellar downstairs?" It was the only wine John remembered liking, and thankfully it was damned expensive too so it fit the criteria of this place.

A surprised expression, but remembering just how prestigious the credit card was, the Waiter nodded. "Yes... sir… I shall have the sommelier come at once… If you shall excuse me."

The waiter left quickly, obviously disturbed by the turn of events. Sam finally reconnected her vocal cords to her brain and stared at John with almost-rage. "_John! What the hell are you doing!?"_

A simple shrug was all John would reply with, he took a sip of his water and sighed as he relaxed. "_Whaaat_? I haven't done this since I was a kid and I hardly paid attention then; can't blame me for being a little rusty now."

Seeing John was adamant about what he was doing, and teasing her mercilessly, Sam simply lowered her head into her hands as she laid her elbows on the table. "You do realize I'm going to kill you later? And don't think that because you just spent your whole yearly pay on this I'm going to forget it."

With a chuckle, John leaned forward. "Sam… unless there's someway we can spend ten million dollars in the time it takes us to get to Colorado, _I don't really care_."

Another wide eyed moment, and Sam gasped, her voice became a whisper from the sheer insanity. _"Ten Mill… TEN MILLION Dollars?! You're wasting your inheritance?!"_

Shrugging, John took another sip of his water. "Part of it; the rest I donated to the IOA's relief supplies going to the base."

Now the shock was too great, and Sam couldn't possibly believe what was happening. "Wait… whoa whoa whoa… you _donated_ your inheritance to… How much?"

"Well I know you love numbers, so you tell me. What's sixty percent of thirty-two million?"

Sam had no reply, the number nineteen point two million floated in her head somewhere, but it just wouldn't come out. Sam's reply came out deadpan. "You're shittin' me."

John's smile said it all. He nonchalantly took another sip of water. "The paperwork should be on your desk by the time we get back."

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Sam recalled the shock of hearing that John had done such a ludicrous thing, and she looked back to Daniel. "Apparently… some _crazy_ philanthropist caught wind of relief supplies the USAF was sending and decided to donate almost twenty million dollars. It took a little convincing, but we're getting it all in the next few days as relief supplies that we're going to stockpile."

Even Daniel was floored by the news. "Twenty… Holy smokes! Who was it?"

A quick blink, and Sam decided to give John some anonymity… at least from all but her. "Ohh… just some crazy millionaire, don't think anyone really knows him." As strange as the sentence was, Sam agreed. She really hadn't known John before that night.

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"Rodney… you okay there?"

Exhaustion, pain, a level of somnolence that Rodney just couldn't believe. All this added to the gash along the side of his body from fighting that Wraith Drone off until Ronon could kill it. "I'm bleeding out and probably going septic! How do you think I am Colonel Obvious!?"

Sheppard rolled his eyes, peeked over the rock they were using for cover and nodded to Ronon. "Looks like your standard Wraith hunting party… must have culled the village we were going to."

Rodney, still not hearing that he was going to get taken care of, held the field dressings to his cuts and grimaced as his blood crawled over his hands. "Excuse me!? Dying man here! Blood flowing freely and…"

Ronon turned and shushed him harshly. "Quiet! They're close…"

Not bothering to look over the rock, Rodney instead tried to remain calm.. Ronon and Sheppard would take care of him… he'd get back to Atlantis… and get out of this surreal place.

In the real world however, Oberoth began to smile faintly. His hand inside Rodney's head could begin to feel that the connections the man's brain were making finally giving up. His brain had mostly become a complete peer to peer network. Similar to what evolution would have naturally done, but with none of the harmful effects.

Talia watched in interest nearby, monitoring the Doctor's life signs. Certainly anyone else at this level of potential brain activity would be at risk of organ failure, but the Doctor's mind had created so many connections that it could handle both the mental and physical aspects of his body.

He would figure it out this time as well… but soon… soon he it would be a simple matter to extract the knowledge they needed, and Atlantis would be theirs again.

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"Alright… I'm gonna have to leave that thing in there for now… hopefully we'll have you back in Atlantis soon so we can put you under…"

John tried to keep his wit to himself, concentrating on the pain helped to keep him quiet. "Yeah… plugged me up good huh?"

Jennifer groaned softly and held another hypo spray nearby. "Alright… this should help you with the pain."

A somewhat sharp feeling as the spray injected, and John winced. "Ow… what was _that?_"

With a slight groan, Jennifer now decided that the most she could do is try and make the Colonel comfortable. "Amynitriptalyne… it should dull the pain pretty fast."

"Don't have any morphine?"

A blank look crossed Jennifer's face. "Uhh no… I was out actually and we were waiting for the latest shipment from Earth for more."

Try as he might, the laughs came out and John groaned in pain ever as he huffed in amusement. Jennifer narrowed her eyes and looked at him oddly. "You shouldn't be feeling narcotic effects… maybe your endorphins have kicked in."

That brought even more chuckles, and thankfully the first wave of numbness from the drug. "Yeah… let's call it that…"

A few moments of laughing, and Jennifer began to look around. "So… you have any clue what this place might be?"

John looked around even as he now lay against another somewhat dilapidated crate. "Uh…" he saw 2 doors nearby, one red and one blue. Familiar symbols decorated both. "Genii… this must have been one of their mining facilities…"

"Well… we'll have you outta here in no time… Just stay calm and try not to move too much."

Rolling his eyes, John replied. "I wasn't planning on it…" He thought about it for a second, and seeing the field bandages surrounding his wound, did the estimate."30 minutes to the gate…10 to gear up… another 10 to get us out… I'm not back in 'lantis for another hour on the inside..."

Jennifer nodded, and began to explore the area. "I know… you should be okay as long as you don't pull that thing out…Sorry."

"Nah… nah I know…" John held still for a moment, wondering what the hell he was going to do for a whole hour.

Evidently, Jennifer figured they'd _talk._ "So uhh… other than your father's wake… how was your trip to Earth?"

Oh great…

-----------------------------------

Ronon had learned to play some of the more popular video games Rodney and Sheppard enjoyed. And perhaps not surprisingly, he became quite good at them.

One in particular was close to his heart… Devil May Cry. John had the latest sequel, Devil May Cry 3. Ronon was reminded of the music playing during the fight against Cerberus as he led these Marines in action.

The steady beat and almost terrifying vocals were clear in his head as he used a pair of Traveler Particle Magnums to put down the Wraith trying to cull this village.

The Marines had taken over the gate, and with heavy weapons now in position, the 2 platoons worth of Wraith that had attacked were now isolated… caught using their own tactics.

Stunners were no match for automatic high caliber weapons, and the team of Marines behind Ronon were the hardest marines he'd ever known. None of them had even ventured requesting to head back to Earth… and some had even requested to come to Atlantis to help in the fight.

Ronon brushed past the tree in his way, smelled something disgusting in the night air, then spun around and put a pair of shots from each of his guns into the tree line on the other side of the path. He was rewarded with a falling Wraith Commander, lying in wait to try and ambush him.

Seeing where he'd shot, one of the newer marines, a Sergeant named Mehra, used her IR goggles to check the area out. "Hostiles! 3 o'clock!"

The Marines fire team instantly dug in. ready to support their leader. Ronon for that matter was impressed. They moved with no hesitation and no fear. Earth did have strong warriors… it only took a galactic threat to bring them out. "Suppressive fire!"

Ronon took a position behind a fallen tree trunk and focused even as he heard the whine of Darts above, and the cacophony of M249s and P90s turning the tree line ahead into sawdust. Every Wraith on this planet was going to die, and Ronon was going to make damn sure they never came back to this planet.

Far above them, in a high orbital plane, Daedalus was currently quite busy playing tag with a pair of Wraith Cruisers and a Hive.

Major Marks didn't play Devil May Cry 3, but he certainly knew what the Wraith on the cruiser Daedalus was bearing down on were thinking. "Target locked sir!"

"Send em to hell!"

Following Caldwell's orders just got easier and easier, and Marks tapped the fire button on the Asgard Plasma Beams. A pair of the beams spat out and vaporized the Darts flying in the air between them, finally impacting and completely bisecting the smaller Wraith craft.

The Cruiser kept going, it's engines sputtering as they used the last of the power going to them to try and keep going. But a Mark 4 Naquadah Enhanced Missile from Daedalus's bow was more than enough to finish shattering the organic superstructure. A brilliant explosion turned the organic ship into nothing more than shards of broken bone like material.

Daedalus was far from done however, and it spun around in a corkscrew maneuver to dodge incoming fire from the massive Hive. Caldwell held onto his chair as incoming fire was absorbed by the shields. "Have Titan wing take out the Cruiser's hyperdrive! We'll deal with the Hive!"

The communications officer quickly relayed the information, and watched as the ship dodged the incoming fire from the Hive. "Titan wing acknowledged. Moving out."

Caldwell had been getting used to fighting the Wraith, The easiest way was to disable their hyperdrives and sublights, then attack from the rear where the fewest turrets were. "Alright Marks, business as usual."

The Major painted where he now knew where the weakest sections of the organic armor plating and primed the forward missile tubes. "Targets locked sir… Asgard beams charging. "

"Fire forward missiles, time beams for 2 seconds after impact."

"Inputting firing solution, Missiles away."

From a 3rd person view, the Daedalus turned on it's horizontal axis and pitched as it fired. A quartet of the Naquadah Enhanced Mark 4 warheads flew forward, impacting with full force and overheating the strong organic armor.

Moments later, the Asgard Plasma beams that spat out from the front of the craft cut through the dense layers like a hot knife through butter. Major Marks had coined a phrase for this maneuver, "Eviscerating the Decks."

Off to the side however, Titan wing was having a battle all it's own. Armed with Railguns and Naquadah Enhanced Missiles, the nimble craft zipped around the slow moving cruiser with impunity, it's heavier plasma cannons too slow to properly target the blade shaped craft.

This presented it's own problem however, as it gave little maneuvering room to fend off harassing Darts.

"_Ox 2 -3 here! Darts on my tail! Can't shake 'em! Can't shake 'em!"_

Captain Anthony _"Razor"_ Pierce could see his wingman doing an acrobatic dance to keep off the firing line of the 3 Darts chasing him down. Thankfully Daedalus had used its own primary Railguns to mop up most of the first wing and only now were the second wing of Darts entering combat. _"Squeeze yer cheeks Ox! I'm shavin' ya!"_

Flipping his craft around so the cockpit faced the cruiser, _Razor_ pitched up and now headed straight at his wingman whose plane was leaking smoke. _"What the… Goddamnit Raze!!!"_

Anthony Pierce had gotten his call sign from his rather unfortunate habit of cutting things just a little too close. And now as he got good tone on 2 of the Wraith darts in pursuit of _Ox, _he flipped the craft so it was parallel to the incoming starfighter. Both craft passed dangerously close, the turbulence from the rocket engines shook both craft violently, but it didn't stop him from pulling the trigger and firing two of his Aim-120A missiles.

At the hypersonic velocity, the missiles tore clean through the noses of the Darts and exploded inside, the velocity so fast the detonators seemed delayed. For pure effect, Razor also held down the trigger on his Railguns, enough of an effect to scare away the other Darts that were hoping to make a meal out of his wingman. _Ox _for that matter was vehement about his reaction. _"Oh-my-god-oh-my-god.. thank you sweet Jesus…! oh thank-you-thank-you…! oh god… Ohh I'm gonna need a new flight suit…"_

Despite the laughter on the radio chatter, Razor knew the fighting was far from over though, and in the distance Razor could see Daedalus sticking to the Hive's rear, _eviscerating the decks_ as Major Marks liked to put it. A Dart spun up from the sortie below him, where the rest of Razor's squad was busy tearing chunks out of the Cruiser's hyperspace engines. _"Time to play."_

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	2. Chapter 2

Sam had always known that Daniel was one of the nicest people she'd ever met. She trusted the archeologist with her life, and while she would never tell him, had shed more than one tear when he had died from radiation poisoning. His subsequent return(s) made her a little more appreciative of his friendship.

It made sense to her that Daniel would fit in instantly here in Atlantis, he was an expert on cultural differences, and he was always learning new languages and customs.

So Sam felt a little stupid for being a little surprised to see Daniel sitting and having a chat with Teyla in the mess hall. "Hey! Looks like you're getting ahead of yourself, I was gonna give you the grand tour."

Both Daniel and Teyla smiled, with the latter motioning for her to sit. "Colonel Carter… would you like to join us? Daniel has been telling me of the many cultures he has encountered and I am telling him of the ones I have encountered here in Pegasus."

Sam could tell Teyla was just being polite, and Daniel's inside look of _'you'll be bored stiff'_ was a godsend. She'd have plenty of time to talk to Daniel later and politely shook her head. "I'd love to… but I've actually got to meet with Larrin to discuss where we're going to put all her people… In fact if you could meet me in my office in say… 2 hours?"

Teyla nodded and politely replied "Of course Colonel Carter… I shall see you soon."

"Bye… See ya Daniel."

"See ya soon Sam."

It was honesty, and Sam moved forward with a purpose. Having 30 naval cruiser sized vessels coming in along with almost 40 smaller sized ships on their way all filled with Travelers was a big worry in her mind, but her stress level was at a manageable place… mostly thanks to John and his sheer insistence on having fun that last night in DC.

This was unknown to Daniel and Teyla though, who continued their conversation. "So you were telling me about some of the cultures you've met here working with the refugees."

Teyla smiled, it was so refreshing to speak to someone with interests that more or less matched her own. But while cultural study and communication was just a fact of life for her, Daniel had made it his career. In the same way, Daniel had learned how to fight and defend what was his, while Teyla made it her career.

So she had absolutely no problem speaking of cultural rituals with him. "Ah yes.. I believe we were at the Ahzoti. They are a hunter society, many of them are trained from youth in the art of hunting and fighting. Those that do not meet their standard of hunter by the age of 8 are instead groomed to be support for the hunters. They become builders, traders, and some even leave once they come of age and spread stories of the hunt."

Daniel found it all very fascinating, and he used his knowledge of earth culture to find parallels. "That's actually not too dissimilar to Spartan Culture on Earth. Many millennia ago, one of the peoples that dotted our world were the Spartans. They would groom every boy from birth to be a warrior whose highest honor would be to die for their country in glorious combat." He didn't tell her that the Spartans would take the male children at birth and dispose of those who were not healthy. In her condition, it didn't seem wise. Daniel instead chuckled softly and shook his head. "I don't suppose you've seen 300?"

Teyla rolled her eyes and chuckled. "I have had the displeasure. It is Ronon's favorite movie. While it was entertaining to watch, I seriously doubt the men were that skilled or dramatic."

With a half shrug Daniel shook his head. "Well actually, records show that while the movie was quite over the top, the story pretty much happened that way. 300 Spartans held off a significantly larger number of Persians at Thermopylae using superior tactics, training, and technology. Of course there were about a thousand others there who weren't Spartans, but that fact usually gets pushed aside for the ideal."

Teyla nodded and narrowed her eyes. "I had assumed as much… but it is an inspirational story."

Ever since meeting Teyla back during the Ori Invasion, Daniel had found that it was surprisingly easy to read Teyla through her words… or rather the way she chose them. "Sort of like we're doing here?"

A moment's hesitation, and Teyla nodded. "You could say that…. Many of the people taking refuge in Atlantis would be dead if not for Colonel Carter and Sheppard's insistence to your IOA."

"Yeah… I uhh… I've heard about that." Daniel was silent a moment and continued. "On that point… the IOA has been in talks with the Jaffa about setting a planet apart for the refugees. It's not a sure thing, but hopefully with my report, they'll see that we need to help these people."

Raising an eyebrow, Teyla asked. "Report?"

Feeling a little ashamed, Daniel shirked back just a tad. "Uhh yeah… part of the conditions I came here on. In fact if the IOA had their way I'd spend every waking hour translating the database here looking for weapons, ships, energy sources…"

"I take it that is not something you'd like to do?"

Daniel rolled his eyes, and replied quickly. "Gee do I make it that obvious?" He chuckled a bit and held his hand up. "Sorry… I hang out with a crotchety old General back home… I love him to death but he's a terrible influence on me."

Teyla rolled her eyes in a likewise gesture. "I know the feeling, Colonel Sheppard has introduced me to the concept of sarcasm… and before…" Teyla stopped for a moment. Thinking about Rodney still hurt, but slowly she'd come to terms with it. "…before Asuras… Rodney was a treasure trove of information on that style of speech."

Seeing that it was getting a little awkward, Daniel decided he'd acknowledge it, and set it aside. "Yeah… I heard about that… Sam tells me that Dr. McKay had really become someone exceptional… I never really knew him all that well but I wish I did."

"Yes… I believe you would have found him… interesting."

--------------------------------

"_Lorne! NOW!"_

From his hidden position on the side of the treeline, Major Lorne stepped out with his Stinger missile launcher already shouldered. Rodney limped what little he could, his calf had gotten snagged by the Wraith's knife and even though John had done what he could, it still hurt _terribly_.

The Dart zooming ahead began to strafe them, its small plasma cannons firing again and again shooting up spurts of dirt and stone showering the team. John and Ronon both fired blindly, hoping to score a lucky hit as they half carried/half dragged Rodney back to the gate. Major Lorne's team took defensive positions, holding off the Wraith advance with their P90s.

John and Ronon gently laid Rodney down next to the DHD and went to join the battle line. Lorne's missile launcher spat out it's contents and the infrared seeking missile zoomed out and turned one of the Darts soaring overhead into molten organic shrapnel. Rodney could swear he saw the pilot flailing about as he fell to the ground.

Atlantis… home… infirmary… Keller's midas touch… yes… That's what Rodney needed. The others were holding the line… Rodney had to get them home…

He hit one button and wondered… what was so wrong about this? Was it the Wraith? Where had they come from so suddenly?

The next button… must have been an ambush… the Wraith had been after him for such a long time…

Third button. The glow seemed off… maybe there was something wrong with the DHD… even as Rodney dropped his hand on the fourth it seemed… strange.

Before he reached for the fifth one… something in his head drew the line… the pain in his calf… where was it?

He looked down, unsure of what to do… and realized that even though he was a clear target for all the Wraith in the air and in the field… they weren't shooting at him. "Wha…oh my…_no… no oh god…this… this isn't…"_

Suddenly yanked out of the virtual reality, Rodney felt himself on his knees. Oberoth picked him up from his collar, he'd lost plenty of weight from his rudimentary diet of intravenous nutrients and was light as a feather to the Replicator. "You shall give me what I want! You will not resist me for long!"

The imposing replicator tossed Rodney to the side, now remembering everything. Just like every time they pulled their hands out, it all came rushing forward.

He was dying. He'd _been_ dying for weeks now. The only reason Rodney hadn't died was the replicators who forced him to stay alive… stay in one piece so they could take everything he was and subvert it.

Nothing was the same anymore. Rodney didn't know whether he'd ever be able to go home… the agonizing pain of what they'd put him through was enough to make him regret ever having come here.

Even as he sobbed, now in the empty room, he wondered what had happened to Atlantis. Why hadn't they come for him?

Of course he knew why… they assumed he was dead… and from the looks of it, they'd be right sooner rather than later.

A figure entered, and Rodney mentally braced himself for the shock of having a hand inserted into his head again. Instead, a blanket was unceremoniously dropped on top of him.

Rodney looked up and saw the replicator who had done damage to him… even questioned him personally.. _"Wh…why?"_

Talia didn't respond, and after a moment of staring simply turned and walked away.

-------------------------------

"That's it?"

John shrugged softly, moving at all hurt like hell and he just concentrated on breathing. "Pretty much… boring bunch those IOA people are."

Jennifer sat and shrugged around a bit. "Guess I was expecting something a lot more than that. I mean…" She hesitated a moment, then shook her head. "Oh never mind…"

"Hmm… What was that?"

"Oh… no nothing."

It was a fact of life that John hated whenever someone was going to say something, but then stopped out of fear of something. "What? Oh come on… we've got another 30 or so minutes till they get back, I'm high as a kite and we're stuck in a broken down old Genii mining facility… you might as well just say it."

Trying to look innocent, Jennifer's tone of voice went high. "Say what?"

"Whatever it is you were gonna say!"

"Oh… I was gonna say something?"

John's expression was disbelief, was Jennifer _teasing_ him? "Oh come on! Whatever happened to your Hippocratic oath!?"

Feeling that John was jokingly serious, Jennifer sighed as she chuckled and sat down. "Well… I dunno… I really shouldn't tell you."

"Tell me what?"

A moment of silence, and Jennifer almost whispered. "Ronon said he missed not going with you… he thought once you were done with your family stuff… you'd take him to have some fun."

John thought about it, and deciding not to answer just yet since her words brought back a memory, he asked a lateral question. "You talk to Ronon?"

--------------------------

"You know it's been years since I came to one of these?"

John shrugged and nodded idly as they walked through the ticket agent. "I figured as much… I'm sure the mountain kept you busy."

Chuckling, Sam nodded. "Oh yeah... last time I went to a carnival or theme park was..." scratching her chin, Sam recalled it. "... Wow... almost 5 years... Cassie's graduation."

Furrowing his brow, John looked around as he asked. "Cassie?" Then remembering Sam talking about her just before Asuras, when he'd just realized Teyla was pregnant. "Oh that's right... your...uhh..." now scratching his chin, John became puzzled. "Hrm... Is there even a word for what you two are?"

Having had this conversation many times, Sam laughed at John's cute befuddlement. "Let's just say we're really good friends." Sam smiled and hung onto John's arm as they entered the Carnival. It was only 3:30pm and they had plenty of time. "So what do you wanna do first?"

"How 'bout we just walk around and see what catches our eye?"

Nodding, Sam moved in concert with John, they joked around about the last time they got to do fun stuff like this, the way kids here on Earth were so spoiled compared to other worlds, and John even remarked that he always liked that the games were hard to win, a real challenge.

"So you _like_ getting frustrated?"

With a shrug, John shook his head. "Well of course not, but when you _actually _win? You get to see the look on that carny's face… Awesome."

Laughing as she walked, Sam finally saw something she felt might be fun. "Ohh look."

John looked, and chuckled when he saw it. "You like blackjack?"

Sam leaned over and whispered. _"I card count._"

With a single huffing laugh, John pulled her along and they sat down at the game.

By the time they left the booth, they'd won several smaller toys between the two of them, and even tokens that could be used for rides. All this besides having fun teasing each other and bluffing with the others at the table. 20 years of military training helped one with their poker face. Sam was impressed that John kept up with her, and made a note to ask him where _he_ learned to count cards.

Next they walked around some more and got some snacks; Sam, seeing the look of nostalgia in his eyes, decided to throw John a bone. "The Ferris wheel is over there."

Surprisingly, John held her back a moment. "Not yet… we still need to play more games."

Furrowing her brow, Sam looked at him. "Oh… well I just thought…"

Answering her question before she'd finished it, John nodded. "I know… but at night. Trust me you'll see. Now, I want you to stand here and point out a toy you want."

Scoffing, Sam smacked him on the arm. "Oh come on… that's the best you got? Lame."

Insistent, John shook his head with a smile. "No no no... its only lame if I buy it straight. We're gonna _win it _together."

"John these games are rigged! Look at this!" Sam held up the plastic bag where she held the small toys. Probably only 2 bucks worth wholesale. "…that's 20 bucks we just wasted there."

Shaking his head, John pulled her into place. "Yeah but that was fun! This is different… I'm on a mission. Which toy do you want?"

"John…"

"Humor me." He spoke with conviction and finality. Sam didn't feel like she had another choice.

"Oh alright…" Sam began to scan the booths with her eyes, most of them were adorned with cheap Chinese imitations of TV cartoons characters. That is until she saw it… like a hidden gentle black and white diamond in the rough. "There… see that?"

John squinted and muttered. "The toucan?"

Smacking him on the arm, Sam shook her head as she emphatically replied "_No!_ Look! The big panda bear."

Noticing it finally, John smirked and deadpanned. "Bamboo?"

Rolling her eyes, Sam dragged him forward towards the booth with a smile. If John was trying to impress her with this, he was going to have to put up or shut up.

-----------------------------------

"Oh… uhh… well yeah… ever since he got back me and him have… well he's been teaching me to spar a little and…"

John had an idea what Jennifer was talking about. He'd noticed Ronon spending a lot more time in the infirmary than usual… and his refugee work with Teyla usually involved Keller as well anyway. "Ahh… I thought I noticed him a little more…" how to describe it? More vicious but at the same time less angry? "Well… more something. But I like it."

Jennifer nodded and sighed as she sat with her arms around her knees. "I… I don't know what to think really… I hardly knew him before but… I guess we just got to talking and…"

It was understandable to a degree. Jennifer wasn't like the rest of them… scarred by war and death. Ronon could probably see something in her that he felt he'd lost. Something Ronon might even want to protect.

John only wished he could feel such classic emotions… instead of what was going through his mind.

-----------------------------------

"Wow… how long would it take to repair them?"

Sam was looking over the plans Larrin had presented her. It detailed repairing the Lantean Plasma Turrets along the taller towers in Atlantis using her engineering corp and materials. The Expedition knew they were there, but only recently had they begun to have enough power to reach orbital ranges. "A few months at least on the outside. Since we're living here now it seems we can repurpose some of our ship's components and people. My engineers tell me that since we're not using our Naquadah to fly our ships, we've got a few months supply to keep the base running at 2/3rds power in conjunction with your zero point energy module in case we're attacked."

That was surprising to hear. Sam looked up at Larrin and narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure? I mean…. Those are your homes aren't they? And that's a lot of Naquadah."

Larrin turned from her standing position and scoffed softly. "Yeah… our homes are giant bulleyes for the Wraith and Replicators... I'm not nearly as stupid as Sheppard seems to think I am. We need you and I'm gonna make damn sure you need us…"

It was an interesting way to put it. Sam could see that Larrin was offering everything the Travelers had in order to survive… she tried to put herself in those shoes but found them too big to fill. "… Well… you don't have to worry about me or John. We're not going to run away any time soon. And we're still awaiting the decision from the IOA on whether or not we can evacuate… your people included."

Larrin huffed an annoyed sigh and sat down. "Well sorry if I don't trust you as much as I do Sheppard… least I know he'll fight till the end."

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Sam had an inkling what Larrin was talking about, but knew the woman would never admit it.

"Oh… well… when you spend time with someone even if it's beating him up… sorry about that by the way… you get to know him…" Larrin chuckled and shook her head idly. "You know he told my council to screw off after that whole thing? He tore into them like… god it was great."

Sam smiled, and recalled what she'd heard from Jack about the IOA and John's hearing. "He pretty much did the same to the IOA council… although they didn't listen to him nearly as much."

A weak groan, and Larrin held her head. "I'm gonna go make sure my people are settling in. Find me if you need more information."

Sam nodded and sighed. Looking at the design, it would certainly turn Atlantis into more a castle fortress then an island city… but then again, that's what they needed now... The Lanteans obviously weren't a warrior race, and the city showed just what they valued in their culture. Science, technology... not war. In Sam's mind, Atlantis would be woefully undefended if not for the massively overpowered shield that could block even the most grievous blows.

It was a strange thing really... Atlantis's shields were quire different from the standard Asgard Shields. instead of a constantly charging capacitor that fed energy to the shield when it took fire, the Atlantean shield siphoned power directly from the main energy grid. It was an interesting trade off in physics terms. Basically it meant that as long as the city had power, the shields would stay up no matter what. The con was that because it drew from the main power grid, extended duration would eat away their complete power reserves. That was what had defeated the Lanteans during the siege 10000 years ago... and that was the worry in Sam's mind.

Unbeknownst to Sam, Daniel was on his way across the little bridge to her office when he ran into Larrin. The Traveler woman looked him up and down and smiled. "Ohhh... i know who you are! You're Daniel aren't you?"

Daniel froze mid-step, looked to Larrin and nodded gently. "Hel-_lo_... sorry but do I know you?"

Larrin held her hand out and shook Daniel's replying hand. "Larrin... I'm a Traveler."

A blink or two from Daniel, and his memory came rushing back. "Oh that's right! Travelers. You're the leader of the people who live on those generational ships right?" Larrin smiled deviously and nodded. Daniel was oblivious to the look Larrin gave him and smiled back. "Golly, Well I'm... i mean I'd love to talk more with you and find out all about your people. We should talk over a meal sometime later."

A little surprised by his forwardness, Larrin went a little wide eyed with excitement. "Sure... long as food's only the beginning."

Up until this moment, Daniel was oblivious to Larrin's flirty nature, of course, seeing that little smile made things quite clear to him and he decided escape was the only means of survival... _for now_. "Oh... uhhh... yeah we'll umm... we'll talk okay?"

Seeing the Doctor become a little bashful, Larrin snickered and slapped him on the shoulder. "Great! I'll come.. _find you _later."

Watching over his shoulder as Larrin walked away suggestively, Daniel shivered as he thought to himself that alien women and he mixed only too well. He looked into Sam's office where the Colonel was staring off into the distance with her hand supporting her jaw.

She thought about John and exactly what it was that was driving him now. God what was driving _her?_ She'd told Jack the truth… Sam felt like going back to Earth… but couldn't bear the pain of leaving things half done here. It was a horrible position to be in… away from what she wanted, but unwilling to leave what she'd set out to do.

"Hey, if you wanted to ascend it takes more than a deep thought."

Sam snapped out of her thoughts, and looked up at who could have possibly said such a thing. "Daniel! What are…?" she rolled her eyes. "Oh never mind… how're you settling in?"

Daniel sat down on the chair in front of Sam and rubbed his hands together. "Oh quite well actually. Teyla's been a huge help and everything is so… _different." _He made no mention of Larrin's offer... no sense giving Sam ammunition.

Knowing exactly what he meant, Sam smirked and shook her head idly. "I knew you'd love it here. It's like back when we first started going through the gate… all those new cultures and people."

Picking up some of the papers that Larrin had left, Daniel raised his eyebrows. "…technologies…" he smirked deviously. "I'm sure you've been having fun with that."

Blushing just a tad, Sam chuckled. "Guilty as charged... the Traveler Particle Technology is actually a few steps above the railgun and magnetic casing…"

Making a somewhat exasperated face, Daniel held up both hands. "You know Sam… usually I have no problem listening to you go on like a kid in a candy store." He smirked deviously. "god knows I do… but I actually came to see how you're doing."

Ever the vigilant one, Sam knew Daniel probably could see she was stressed out. "I'm fine Daniel… as fine as can be expected."

Rolling his eyes slightly, Daniel leaned forward. "And that's supposed to mean…? What? You're frustrated? You've got a ton of stress and no way to relieve it? Jack told me about the situation here Sam… I know it's not looking good."

With a soft sigh, Sam put her pen down. "We're still hoping we can think of something… we might not be able to take many more refugees, but Colonel Caldwell's out there and Larrin's promised to…"

Interrupting again, Daniel scootched closer to her desk. "I'm not talking about Caldwell or Larrin… I'm worried about you Sam… Jack's worried too..."

Feeling trapped now, Sam decided to let him in on her mental state. "I'm frustrated.... _Really_ frustrated. The IOA's been stonewalling me for months now, and with this whole meeting they're having…" With a sigh, Sam receded into her chair. "Handling all this paperwork is making my head spin…" going into a smile now, she continued. "But… I'm okay… really. It hasn't gotten to me yet and with any luck it won't."

Daniel nodded, somewhat appeased, and gave one of his smaller smirks. "That wouldn't have anything to do with a big panda bear would it?"

Both eyes now wide, Sam stammered for a reply. "Wha… how did…you couldn't… How?"

Laughing openly now, Daniel stood up and yawned. Gate lag killed him. "Oh Teyla was there in the gateroom when you and Sheppard came back from Earth… It's kinda hard to sneak something like that past her."

Feeling the need to distract from the obvious gift, Sam struck out at his wording. "I can imagine" She looked up at Daniel aggressively "… so... you've been hanging out with Teyla?"

Daniel narrowed his eyes, and shrugged. "Of course, she's the cultural expert here… you've been hanging out with Sheppard?"

Narrowing her own eyes, Sam decided to be a comedian. "Of course… he's the stress relief expert around here."

Both looked at each other for a moment, just waiting for the other to crack first, Sam's lips twitched upwards and Daniel's cheek moved involuntarily. A titter left Daniel's mouth and within second both were reduced to howls of laughter.

-------------------------------

Ronon waited a second and listened to what was going on inside the hut. He could hear raspy breathing, and the faint sound of muffled cries. Ronon looked over to where Dusty was crouched and made hand signals carefully. First he pointed to her, then made a circle in the air, and pointed inside. Ronon then pointed to Dusty again, pointed to both his eyes, motioned to himself, and finally a cutting gesture across his throat.

Dusty took a second to think about it, then nodded. To any soldier it was clear that Ronon was asking for backup. She quickly attached her silencer to her P90 and waved to a pair of Corporals to back her up. They quietly crept around the side of the hut, heading towards an open window.

Ronon waited a few seconds, motioned to the other marines beside him to stay clear, nodded to Lorne who was on the other side of the door, and took a deep breath.

The flimsy wooden door was never meant to keep more than the draft and water out. The village had seen peace in their people for many years and had little defense against the Wraith. So Ronon's bodyslam was more than sufficient to unhinge it and even tear some of the jamb out.

Ronon held one Particle Magnum to the Wraith's head, but didn't move a muscle as the Wraith had a hostage… a young woman. The nervous Wraith hissed at Ronon, using one hand to cover the woman's mouth, and the other hovering just above her chest, ready to feed.

"Let the girl go." The Wraith hissed at Ronon again and made a motion as if he was going to feed, Ronon instantly yelled. "Wait!" With a careful move, Ronon lowered his pistol and tossed it to a nearby chair. He even made sure the other Traveler gun was tossed as well, leaving only his sword attached to his back. "You won't make it out of here alive unless I say so."

The fidgety Wraith looked around, keeping his hand over the mouth of the panicked woman who was catatonically stunned. Even the tears coming from her eyes had stopped, but the words in her pupils begged Ronon to save her.

She couldn't have been more than 20… Ronon couldn't help but think of all the young ones who had fallen to the Wraith. Torn from life much too soon. Ronon himself was in his early thirties… an old man for Pegasus. Fighting the Wraith for so many years had aged him as well, and he knew that not many people reached his age. "You let her go… I'll tell my men to let you through."

All that mattered was the girl… all that mattered was the girl…

"_Why should I trust you…?"_

Ronon smiled, and then slowly reached for his radio. Holding the call button, he spoke confidently. "This is Ronon… none of you guys kill the Wraith coming out of the hut… let him walk to the gate and dial out. That's an order." A second or two passed, and several voices came back, some questioning the order, others acknowledging it. Ronon shut them all up with a single command. "I said let him through! Just do it!" Now Ronon looked back at the Wraith who seemed somewhat nervous still. "There… I give you my word as an honorable man that my men won't kill you… now… let the girl go."

The Wraith questioned what his choices were. He was still unsure. "You will just shoot me as soon as I let her go…"

Ronon shook his head, this couldn't happen… not again. "Wrong… you go back to your queen and tell them we killed everyone but you…" Ronon snarled softly.

With that, The Wraith now seemingly understood Ronon's thinking. It gave a careful nod before moving his feeding hand away…

From Sergeant Dusty Mehra's point of view, she had just about reached the window where she might be able to cover Ronon inside. So it came as a complete surprise to her when the side of the wall suddenly burst open and the body of the Wraith flew back through the debris.

Even more surprising, especially because she should have known better. Ronon burst through right after with his sword at the ready. The Wraith was badly wounded, but still breathing and hissing. _"Coward… treacherous coward!"_

Ronon kicked the Wraith as it lay prone on all fours and sent him back a few feet. It rolled on the ground and ended up facing him as it got up tor try and fight. Ronon didn't hesitate and swung the sword around once, severing it's feeding hand then then driving it clear into the Wraith's gut. "I never said _I_ wouldn't kill you."

With a final howl, Ronon pushed forward and up with the sword and shredded the insides of the Wraith, it was the cruelest way to kill a wraith quickly, make it use all it's healing potential instead of just decapitating it.

The song from the Cerberus Battle in Devil May Cry 3 still rang in Ronon's head…

"_Step twice you invite and welcome death… pay homage to me with your last breath…" _

_--------------------------------_


	3. Chapter 3

"Unscheduled off-world activation!"

Sam instantly got up from her desk and moved over to the control room with Daniel on her heels. "Report!"

Chuck spun in his chair and nodded to Sam. "Receiving Radio transmission... It's Colonel Sheppard and Dr. Keller's team sir."

Nodding, Sam wordlessly told Chuck to turn the radio on. Instantly they could hear the worried marine. "_This is Captain Jacob Perez! Atlantis come in!"_

"Captain, this is Colonel Carter, What's wrong?"

"_Ma-am! Colonel Sheppard and Dr Keller have been trapped in some kind of underground building. The Colonel is wounded and needs immediate medivac!"_

Sam winced and realized that every team she had was out on missions. Procuring food, defending a village against the Wraith, one team was even trying to recon a Wraith base for a first strike. So that left only base security personnel.. people she wasn't willing to order to go seeing as there were almost 6 thousand people in the city now. "Copy that. We'll send a Jumper ASAP. Secure the area and await reinforcements."

"_Copy ma-am! Faster is better, we're experiencing seismic activity!"_

Unbidden, a memory surfaced in Sam's mind… a conversation she'd had with John that night in DC.

------------------------------------

"You were right… it's better in the dark."

Sam chuckled softly as she sat back in the Ferris Wheel's seat. John sat across from her admiring the Potomac River in the distance. "It's been awhile since I've been on one… Miss it."

A smile stretched both of their mouths, and Sam moved the bag of plushy toys they'd won to the side in order to scootch closer so she didn't have to speak up. "I think I can appreciate why you like these."

John turned and looked at Sam with a curious glance. "Oh?"

An idea had formed in her head, and she herself understood it. "You're a pilot… sometimes you wanna fly and smell the roses at the same time."

The Lieutenant Colonel's grin grew wider, and he spoke softer. "You're a pilot too… you know that rush… you hit that point and just… _phase_?"

Sam smiled back and nodded. "Yeah… just… total rush." She was so relaxed, the stress in her mind and body just totally washed away being up so high and smelling the windy air.. "I remember… back when I was working in Nevada… I used to grab my Indian and just ride hard on those open plains… no cops, no hassle… just me and my bike…" John gave her a strange gaze, so strange that Sam blushed a little. "_Whaaat_?! Do I have some gunk on my face or something!?"

John grimaced just a little, it was so unlike what he'd come to expect from women. "HA! No no no… I'm just… You like bikes?"

Sam saw something in John's eyes, and suddenly she knew the night was only beginning. Seems she wasn't the only one with a need for speed.

-----------------------------

Daniel seemed to notice Sam's apprehension, and moved in. "Sam…"

Sam for that matter ignored it. Calm and action would win the day. "Copy. Carter out." Too worried to reply to Daniel, Sam tapped her earpiece again. "This is Colonel Carter to the infirmary, come in."

Daniel moved around Sam and tried to get her attention. "Sam…"

Still not replying, Sam listened to the infirmary's answer. "Nurse Marie here, is there a problem?"

"We have wounded off-world. Get a rapid response team ready and prepare to meet at the Jumper Bay." A second to think. "Does anyone there have the ancient gene?"

"Uhh yes ma-am. Orderly Paxton has the gene."

"Can he fly the Jumper?"

Now a little agitated, Daniel moved in closer. "Sam…?"

Holding up her hand to her best friend's chest, Sam silenced him for a moment with the acknowledgement. Marie's reply was quick. "Yes ma-am, everyone with the gene has been given flight training."

Somewhat satisfied, Sam sighed softly. "Good, have him meet me there in 10 minutes. I want to set out in no more than 15, clear?"

"We'll be there in 5, Marie out."

Finally feeling a little better, Sam turned to Daniel. "I'm sorry Daniel… we don't have any teams that can go out now and…"

Now it was Daniel who held his hands up and shushed Sam. "Say no more. Let's go."

A little surprised, Sam couldn't help but smile. Daniel was _always _willing to help. "Come on, we need to gear up." As she led Daniel along, Sam again tapped her earpiece. "Larrin this is Colonel Carter please come in."

A few seconds passed as Sam led Daniel to the Armory, 3 minutes to throw a tac vest on as well as grab some equipment, then another 3 to get to the Jumper Bay… _"Colonel? Uhh Yeah I'm here. What is it?"_

"We've got an emergency off world and I need you to take over operations in the control room."

Even Daniel was a little surprised. Certainly there were Air Force or Marine officials who could do that in her absence. He stayed quiet though, and simply listened in on his own earpiece. "_Excuse me?"_

Sam replied instantly, almost harsh but lacing it with tact. Larrin had said she didn't trust Sam yet… so Sam was going to give her a reason to trust her. "Sorry to shove you into the spotlight so soon, but I'm the only experienced officer on base and I've got a man down. Don't worry; just make sure everything runs smoothly until I get back."

Larrin had stopped in her walk towards Mila's quarters, she was going to ask her about any chance of getting a significant portion of the fleet to another galaxy seeing as the little engineer had spent some time studying the earth made hyperdrives. To get called on so suddenly was a little shocking. "Uhh… okay… what do I do?"

"_Come to the control room and work with Sergeant Chuck Campbell, he'll bring you up to speed and advise you. you get the Chuck?"_

The Canadian's voice came in smoothly, he _was_ the only person on base privy to just about every radio transmission. (At least officially) _"Yes Ma-am, I'll be waiting Larrin."_

Shrugging her shoulders, Larrin turned around and headed for the nearest transporter. "Alright… who's hurt? Anyone I know?"

A moment's hesitation, it _was_ someone she knew. Sam's voice came in softly. "_It's Colonel Sheppard… don't know how severe. We should be back soon but just hold the fort down till I get back."_

Now understanding a little more, Larrin stepped into the transporter and blew a sigh. "Great, the man's just a magnet for injury."

No reply… maybe she'd struck a nerve. Oh well.

---------------------------------

Being trapped inside, with no apparent means of opening the doors beyond sheer luck, the tremor that suddenly shook the whole building scared the crap out of both John and Jennifer. But what really got to John was the way the dirt _had_ to land pretty much right on top of him drawing a loud groan of repressed pain.

Once it stopped, Jennifer was quickly by his side cleaning the wound. John breathed heavily, unbelieving of just how much it hurt. "_Arrrrrgghhhh_… _god…_ would something _please_ go right for once?!"

Jennifer quickly pulled out her kit again, and got to work redressing the wound where more blood began to seep out of the sides. Seeing no other choice, Jennifer pulled out a small pouch from her bag and looked to John. "Hey, this is gonna hurt, but I have to stop your bleeding as much as I can..." She hoped that it would be enough. Already the Colonel had gone a few shades paler. The Combat Gauze she wrapped around his wound would only be marginally effective given the depth and lack of proper tools, but it would do a bit…hopefully enough.

John braced for the feeling, and bit down on his collar as the doctor applied the gauze. It hurt terribly from the pressure, and he groaned as it dried out the area and prevented more blood from just seeping out. She pressed new dressing on top of the old and began to press down, forcing his arteries to constrict and stop pumping out. He'd lost maybe a pint and a half of blood, but lying back and trying to relax was helping.

"So hey… you uhh…you seeing anyone?"

A double take was the only way John could reply. His look of stunned awe at such a forward question. "Uhh…"

Jennifer talked while she worked, finding his major arteries and pressing down hard to keep them from pumping his blood out. "Oh come on… I hear all the stories… you're telling me you don't have anyone on Atlantis?"

It was a strange thing to be talking about in a life and death situation. And John just couldn't help but think about it now. "What?... _oh god_… no… I'm not _seeing_ anyone right now… is this really the time to be...?"

Almost as if she were barely hearing it, Jennifer used her mouth to fish out another vial from her bag and tossed it to John's hand. "Take one… it'll help with the pain." She waited a second before continuing; by talking about something that would relax him, his heart would pump at a slower rate increasing his chances. "Oh…? I thought you and that Traveler… Larrin…" A small scoff. "Everyone keeps talking about you two…"

A few chuckles escaped John's mouth. While the thought of perhaps something with Larrin was getting more and more tempting as time went by, this was hardly the time to be thinking about such things… then again… "Ha… well… I won't lie… I've thought about it."

Jennifer finally came back to her senses and looked at him . "Really?"

John shrugged in reply. "Why not?"

A strange expression came over Jennifer's face, and she furrowed her brow. "Isn't that kind of risky?"

"'scuse me?"

She looked him in the eyes, and John could see she was more than just worried about him. "Well… it's not like we're office workers or something… any one of us could be killed at any moment."

Despite understanding what she was saying, John couldn't help but snark back. "That's a great bedside manner Doc…"

Jennifer groaned softly and shook her head idly. "I know… I'm sorry… it's just…"

"Ronon." Nothing else had to be said, And John finally understood why Ronon hadn't gone with him to Earth. With both Teyla needing someone… and the young doctor… Ronon had good taste apparently and it showed. "Jennifer… are you gonna say anything?"

Another silent gaze, and after a moment Jennifer finally spoke. "I… I don't know… it's… it's so messed up."

John thought about it. It was actually very probable that once either the Asurans or Wraith found Atlantis… they'd have to evacuate… if they even had the chance.

If the IOA didn't let Larrin and her people go through with the refugees… He'd already decided what he'd do… and he remembered when it became clear to him.

------------------------------

"Any chance I can bring my bike to the base? The piers would make _great_ places to burn rubber."

Sam laughed, and pulled a brush through her hair to fix it from the helmet she was just wearing. The rental agency had surprisingly allowed them to take the bikes out without an appointment, something she was curiously suspicious about, but Sam knew John could be very persuasive when he wanted to be.

Thankfully she knew those kinds of men, god she'd almost _married_ one. But something that made her trust John was that he never tried any of that on her… John was always honest to her. "Sorry… I've been trying since I got there… no luck."

A few combined chuckles as they walked down the street. The bike ride had been fun and both were pleasantly surprised by the other's skill with the motorized vehicles. It was almost 8 o'clock and neither had eaten anything but sweets. John yawned softly as his stomach grumbled. "Wanna get a bite?"

Sam smiled and shrugged positive. "Sure. What'd you have in mind?"

John looked around the street, they were in a more prestigious area of DC, M Street near Pennsylvania Ave. A lot of restaurants were nearby but one caught his eye.

It reminded him of all the restaurants he'd gone to with his family… some of the more annoying times of his life having to dress up and spend thousands of dollars to be pampered. He looked over to Sam and for a brief moment, was in pure thought.

John wasn't going to be coming back… and for all intents as purposes this was going to be his last night on Earth. He'd put all his affairs in order... and if the unthinkable happened to Atlantis… he'd either be dead or…

The only other option was Larrin and her people… He could silently offer her his service as a pilot for their Aurora… if worse came to worst.

Looking at Sam he saw someone who was honest… someone who wasn't pretentious in the least… Yet he knew that probably she'd never been to a 5 star restaurant where they pampered you like a king or queen. Maybe his mother was right with one of the last conversation he'd had with her… an honest woman was hard to find… on Earth at least. "How 'bout that one?"

Sam turned and after looking at the restaurant for a second, started laughing. "Oh sure, we'll walk up and just grab any old table they've got!" she playfully shoved John and shook her head idly. "Nah… there a steak house nearby?"

John smiled deviously, and decided that he'd go just a little above over the top. "Aw where's that SG-1 sense of adventure? Come on! I'll get us in!"

Not giving her a chance to argue, John pulled Sam along even as she hung onto her plastic bag with the plushy toys they'd won. The big panda bear was the main attraction, but plenty of smaller cheaper ones were in there as well.

----------------------------------

"Damage report."

Major Marks looked at his console, thought better of poking the short circuited boards and turned to deadpan. "At a glance? Pretty bad."

Caldwell gave an annoyed sigh, realized there wasn't much else of an answer he could have gotten, and tapped his com panel. When it sparked and sizzled, he rolled his eyes in even greater frustration. "Can _someone_ give me a estimated time of repair?"

From the hallway to the side, an almost squeaky voice came back. "Sir? _Hic!"_

With a muted shudder, Caldwell turned and faced the Lieutenant. "Lieutenant… would I be right in guessing you're here to tell me why my com panel just _fricasseed_ itself?"

Novak looked out the window and could see the scorched and shattered Hive on screen, It had been a close fight but tactics had won the day for the Daedalus. "Yes *_hic* _sir… that last kami *_hic* _kaze run by the Darts overloaded *_hic* _a lot of our power systems. *_hic* _There's not too much physical *_hic* _damage, but we'll have to replace a dozen *_hic*_ distributors before we can get most secondary *_hic* _and some primary systems *_hic* _back."

Caldwell nodded, sighed softly and asked his question. The Lieutenant's hiccupping problems had come back just as bad as ever, though he was glad she was alive. "How long for repairs?"

The poor hiccupping Lieutenant shrugged and looked out the window. "On our *_hic* _own? 6 to 8 hours. If *_hic* _we can get some spare parts from Atlantis through the gate, 3 *_hic* _hours. But more than likely we'll need to *_hic* _head to Earth for a full refit."

"Alright Lieutenant, contact Major Lorne on the planet and request supplied through the gate…" he waited a second. "And make sure intraship communications are restored first…"

With a few final hiccups, Lieutenant Novak saluted and left the bridge. Her frustrated muttering as she left would have been funny if the ship wasn't so damaged. Daedalus had been getting used to fighting the Wraith, but the Wraith were getting used to Daedalus.

-------------------------------------

"_My Lord…"_

Todd turned and faced his subordinate. A scowl covered the mouth of the old wily wraith as he was quite busy designing the genetic codes needed for the prototype hive under construction to be adaptable to ZPM power. "Yes… your interruption will be important, or you will not have a chance for another."

The Sub-commander growled softly, he was getting more and more frustrated at Todd's egotistical leadership. "The Humans of Atlantis have destroyed another Hive… This brings us down to 16 operational hives… 7 of which have taken damage from skirmishes with the Asurans."

Todd didn't care too much, in his opinion, with the Asurans bombarding planets until they were little more than glass, the less mouths to feed the better… as long as his was always filled. "Unimportant… the Atlanteans have suffered as much as we have. Our scouts report no real activity beyond trying to save a few pitiful thousand humans."

"We have also found that the Travelers have abandoned all known trade routes… we suspect they have banded with the Atlanteans."

That brought Todd's attention to full. He turned and frowned slightly. "What evidence do you have of this?"

"One of our spies within the Genii has reported of a skirmish between the Atlanteans and the Genii… the Atlanteans were supported by Traveler space craft."

Todd took a second to think, if the Travelers had joined with the Atlanteans, then there were now 3 factions vying for Atlantis… one that was already in control. Todd wanted Atlantis for Earth… and the Asurans wanted it for the same reason… The Earth born humans would fight to the death for it… "Have the rest of the Hives move out and cull every last human possible. We will need supplies."

"My lord… that would leave the shipyard undefended."

With a scoff, Todd shook his head. "If the Asurans come… they will not be stopped by a dozen Hives. The more humans we have the longer we will have to achieve our goals."

The sub-commander waited a second. "Yes my lord."

Before he left though, Todd called him back. "Wait… perhaps a strike to show we are still here is in order…" Taking a second, Todd opened a file on his computer console and sent it to his sub-commander's archive. "I have sent you all the information I have on Atlantean codes and computer systems… I suggest you come up with a plan to draw first blood."

The sub-ordinate smiled, perhaps now he would show that new blood and bravado would always defeat age and experience.

----------------------------

"Come on McKay! Now or never!"

Rodney ran down the hallway holding his Tablet… the battle was going wrong but… at least the ZPMs would blow… except the one he had in his pack.

2 survivors… that's all Rodney could think… the entire strike team was killed when FRAN was unable to follow through with her mission for whatever reason… except now with a ZPM… gating back to Atlantis and powering up the city… maybe they could do something about this catastrophe.

Ronon shoved him forward and fired his gun again, the Asuran behind him fell stunned to the floor… just like a dozen other's the Satedan had shot. Rodney kept running, not too much farther to the gate.. not that far from home…

In the real world, Talia watched… Oberoth had a dark smile on his lips.. this was it. It was finally happening. Teasing the Doctor with a ZPM, survival, and a similar scenario to his mind had finally done it. His brain chemistry was almost to the point where access would be total… and Atlantis's address would be theirs…

It was dramatic, as the Doctor suddenly began to convulse, and Oberoth trembled slightly. Talia became worried as no Asuran _ever_ trembled. "Oberoth… what is happening?"

The imposing man dug his hand a little deeper, and now the smile on his face became blissful. "I… I have access… it… it is so _different_. So… _glorious."_

Talia was now worried. Oberoth was sounding rather strange… which to an Asuran was very dangerous. "Oberoth… what is it?"

Oberoth turned, his face in a strange jovial expression. "He… this human reached an evolutionary peak… and came back… the knowledge within him is _vast_… almost too much to control…"

Suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, a blast shook the tower they were in. Talia instantly linked to the Asuran sensor network and was a little surprised. "Incoming fire! It's from one of ours!"

Oberoth growled suddenly and tapped his communicator. "All planetary defenses, full battery fire."

They left the Doctor, who was now slumped over on the floor, catatonic as he began to comprehend what had just happened to him.

--------------------------------

"I'm just not sure anymore… I'm not sure of anything…"

John tried to listen, he really did, but these were all questions he'd asked himself and figured out on his own. "That's just life."

Jennifer helped John by putting his head onto her shoulder. Admittedly John enjoyed it, but Jennifer was so much younger than him… it felt… _seedy_. The Daughter Rule was running through his head and he kept trying to focus on things other than how soft Jennifer's shoulder felt. She'd treated him as far as her kit would allow, and now all that was left was to make him comfortable.

It disturbed him a bit to be reminded of the events of the Tower and finding the second destroyed Lantean City ship... He might have woken with a smile the morning after, but a part of him felt forever disconcerted. "How bad is it hurting?"

A shrug in reply, and John could feel his body slowly getting colder. "Not too much… long as I don't move…" He looked up at the hole in the ceiling. "Shouldn't be much longer."

Jennifer nodded and gave John's shoulder a little squeeze. "You'll be okay… we'll have you back home in no time and get some real painkillers into you."

A few laughs, and John chuckled out his reply. "Oh… you'll give me the good stuff?"

"Of course… you are…"

Jennifer's voice was interrupted by a sudden surge of static from their radios. Both went to alertness and listened. "They're almost here… finally. Maybe now I can get rid of this damn wood."

A wince came from Jennifer, and many mental self-kicks at the double entendre. "Ummm… yeah… hopefully they can get us outta here quickly." She carefully laid her jacket down to use as a pillow and began to speak into her radio. "This is Doctor Keller! Who's out there?"

A few moments of static, and finally a voice came through. "_Keller! This is Colonel Carter. We're bringing a medivac Jumper and we'll be there momentarily. How's Colonel Sheppard?"_

John, never one to let someone else speak for him unless it was needed, grabbed his own radio and muttered into it. "Colonel Carter… Sheppard here. I'm still alive if that's what you're asking… I do have a little more musty old crate inside me than I'd like but I think I'll live."

Nobody laughed, but the message was clear. "_I'm... assuming Doctor Keller doped you up… get ready Doctor, we'll be rappelling down in a few moments."_

Jennifer screwed her face. "Rappelling?"

Seeing her suddenly scared face, John instantly knew what was going on. "Oh you're kidding me… scared of heights?"

A sharp quick nod, and Jennifer looked up. "Yeah! I've uhh… I've tried to get over it… balconies… boxes…"

Groaning softly, John questioned why the hell things like this kept happening to him. Thankfully he could hear the Jumper outside, and prepared to get pulled out. The light from the hole suddenly shut out, and the room was darkened. A part of it then came back, and the sound of an aft hatch from a jumper coming down was heard.

A few chemical glow sticks fell, as well as dirt from the building beginning to shake. The Jumper was causing a bit of a stir and the complex began to tremble. A moment passed and a rope along with a body began to fall into the room, seconds later, another larger one followed.

John forced himself to sit up, and he could see the blond hair of his commanding officer along with someone he.. wait.. he _did_ know who that other person was. Guess Sam _did_ manage to convince the IOA to send him.

He could barely hear over the low rumble of the Jumper's engines, but he could see Jennifer pointing to him and to the two ex members of SG-1. it took a few seconds, but then Jennifer looped a lanyard Daniel handed Jennifer around her shoulders, then attached herself to the spare rope he had. Then all three moved over to John.

John forced a salute, it was almost comical to him, but seeing Sam's worried expression knew he should tone it down. "Evenin' Colonel!"

Sam quickly knelt down next to him along side Jennifer. "Alright, we're gonna hook you up to a lanyard and pull you outta here. We'll be back in Atlantis in no time."

With a nod, John lifted himself up and allowed the two women to attach the hook like device. He looked over to Daniel and smiled. "Evenin' Jackson! Lemme guess... You were in the neighborhood?"

Chuckling, Daniel replied. "Something like that!"

Within moments John was attached to Sam's spare rope and was on his feet supported by her.

Daniel moved back to the center of the room and winced as more dirt fell into the building. "Come on! This place is falling apart!"

He pulled Jennifer to him and tugged on both of their ropes twice. Within seconds they were hoisted up and lifting towards the hole in the ceiling.

Sam helped John limp to the center, then wrapped one arm around him and yelled. "Hold on!"

Nodding, John braced himself and bit down on his collar. It hurt like hell when the rope tugged on him moving the wood in his gut around, but he bore the pain.

Sam for that matter held onto him like a buoy, and deep in their minds they remembered being this close before… although it wasn't a life or death situation.

---------------------------------

"Remember I said I was gonna kill you?"

John nodded as he pulled Sam along into the small side room of the restaurant. The sparkly light blue dress she had changed into was dazzling. "Can it wait for tomorrow?"

Laughing at how suave John was being, Sam allowed herself to be dragged along. "It's going to wait till we're in Colorado so I can get away with it."

Unafraid, John finally opened the door and revealed to Sam what he'd ordered from the Maitre D' in secret. A large grand piano and permanent band were there, along with several other couples who were dancing to the soft music. He turned to Sam with a devious grin, matched only by her shocked and infuriated expression. "Can't have dinner at a 5 star restaurant without a dance."

Sam, amazed that all this was happening, turned to John slowly. "I am going to dismember you... _slowly_." Her angry face turned to a restrained laughing one, and she smiled as she said the next part. "But not until after we dance."

John smiled back, and held his hand up to get her to wait. His grin signaled evil in Sam's mind and she knew something _very_ bad was about to happen. When the piano player gave John a surprised glance, a quick handshake and examination of said hand was all John needed to do.

Sam instantly knew that John had once again bribed his way through, and wondered just why John was being so loose with his money. It certainly felt like he was trying to impress her…. But he wasn't doing anything that seemed… inappropriate towards her.

If he were anyone else, she'd have left him at the corner hours ago.

John quickly led her onto the dance floor, and they were quickly in position. He smiled as the band conferred for a second, then began with a strings solo. Instantly Sam knew what form of music… or rather dance they'd be doing. "I hate you John." It was said with a smile and deadpan tone. Sam was now curious to see whether he was as good as he obviously thought he was.

A smirk creased his lips, and a challenge uttered from his mouth. "It takes two to tango."

"_Oohhhh you are sooo dead_."

----------------------------------

As they were pulled up by the medical staff, Sam felt horrible at seeing John grimace and groan from the obvious pain. Her vest and hands were quickly coated with his blood as she helped him up onto the Jumper's decks. The superstructure beneath them groaned, and Sam could see the entire floor begin to shake and shift. "Paxton! Go go go! We're onboard!"

The medical response team quickly moved behind Keller, They handed her a portable scanner and quickly set John down on a stretcher between the two benches in the back. Daniel sat across from Sam and looked at her with a curious glance, but kept his mouth shut.

Jennifer quickly inserted an IV into John's arm, and before Sam's eyes, the Lieutenant Colonel soon passed out as the began their life saving procedures. She couldn't help the memories now, such a great experience they'd shared.

--------------------------

"So where'd you learn to dance John?"

The tango was long over, and John was glad as Sam was surprisingly good at it. Both were a little rusty, but neither cared about trivial details like that anymore. Now it was a slow dance, and they simply rocked side to side as they talked gently. "My mom wanted me to learn… didn't want me to look like a fool later... course that was _way_ before I could see how pretentious it could be."

Sam blew a breath of laughter out her nose, she wasn't too surprised by his answer. "Smart woman… she knew you'd be here today and be able to keep up." John laughed softly, but Sam could see that mention of his mother brought back some pain… she should know better than to be so careless... it was unspoken but Sam could tell John's mother must have died when he was young.

Another commonality. She knew exactly how he must have felt, the despondency, the guilt, and the wish that they could have had more time. Sam didn't know the exact circumstances and didn't think she'd ever really know... but that didn't matter... and if the time came that he did tell her, she'd be ready.

"Yeah… guess I still appreciate _some_ things from back then…" John sighed softly, and then turned the tables on Sam. "So where'd you learn to dance like that? I can't see you doing it very often on SG-1."

"No… I learned when I was a kid too… before I got all geeky." Sam rolled her eyes. "Astrophysics doesn't leave much time for prancing around."

Some more soft laughing, and more gentle dancing. Sam couldn't help but be impressed by how smoothly John had managed to get his hand onto the small of her back… an intimate place, yet he kept his distance without seeming uncomfortable or even... _aroused_. It was very strange to Sam... not many men were comfortable around her... least of all to _touch_ her. Yet here was John doing it like it was an everyday thing.

In response to his formal intimacy, Sam held her arms around his neck and looked into his eyes… trying to figure out what John was doing.

John for that matter seemed perfectly comfortable… almost casual in his manner. Certainly he must feel how intimate this must be. "I dunno about that… you seem like a pretty cool geek to me."

Scoffing, Sam gave him a wide grin and a gentle shove. "Sucking up to the boss? At least you're consistent." Before John could reply, she continued. "And since when do Jocks compliment geeks?"

To Sam's surprise, John suddenly grumbled. "Jock? I'm mildly offended!"

Now Sam was curious, was John actually _defending_ geeks? "Oh? You don't consider yourself a Jock?"

"Well… I'm working for a self-proclaimed geek, didn't seem smart to diss em back then… why now?"

Now feeling teased, Sam again gave him a smile and a shove. "Jackass…" The dance was just about over, and Sam reluctantly pulled away. "Ahh... Well kind sir…" She began and decided to give him back some ribbing for such an insane night. "This fair maiden dost feel faint. Wouldst thou escort dear lady back to her hotel room?"

John went wide eyed for a second, and stifled his laugh at such a ridiculous way of speaking. "Oh god… _what have I done?_ _Why did I expose you!?_" he was cracking up, and now tears were beginning to form in his eyes from the hilarity. "I gotta get you outta here… before you really _do_ become infected…"

Now laughing together, they linked arms and started their walk back to their table. It was easily 10:30pm by now and both were feeling a little sleepy.

As they reached the door however, something caught Sam's eye. "Wow… look at that."

John did as he was ordered, and spotted what she'd seen. "Hmm? Oh… wow… that _is_ pretty impressive."

What had them both so mesmerized was a crystalline set of chess that was sitting ornamentally on top of an antique table. John took a second to look at the sheer quality of the set, each piece was painstakingly carved from a larger one and polished to a see through shine. It was even ornamented with smaller colored crystals where applicable.

He'd already decided what he was going to do, all he needed was the Maitre D'. "I'm totally buying it."

Sam turned and again scoffed. "Are you serious? I just said I _liked_ it, not to _buy_ it for me."

John snorted. "Who said anything about you? I'm buying it for me!"

Feeling a little silly now, Sam covered her mouth as she giggled to herself. "_Oh lord_… You're a lunatic." Sam thought about what she'd just said… and the way John smiled as he waved over the Maitre D'.

----------------------


	4. Chapter 4

Rodney struggled to his knees, he could sense the shaking in the floor and felt threatened… but at the same time, he wanted to get closer to that threat. Rodney wanted it to finally put an end to this misery.

They'd done it. The goddamn nanite bastards had done it. They'd taken everything he was or would ever be and stolen it. Every part of his memory, his thinking, and even his personality was literally ripped out of his head by Oberoth's hand.

Rodney felt so strange, it was like he could think and his thoughts would become ideas, then become theories, then those theories became practical applications… but it was happening too fast, almost instant. His mind screamed at him with a thousand different voices… all his own.

Flopping around like a fish out of water, Rodney tried to scream for help, but his mouth refused to cooperate and instead spat out incomprehensible gibberish.

From seemingly nowhere though, a figure appeared at the doorway, Rodney could swear he recognized her, but something felt odd, the black leather and gun in her hand wasn't like what he thought she might be. It wasn't someone he ever would have expected in any case. "_Rodney…"_

"_Ww…www..ell…"_

The figure closed on him and knelt by the gibbering mess of a man. "_My god_… what have they _done_ to you?"

No words came out of Rodney's mouth, and the mess of his beard and greasy hair made it hard to see his face. The woman used a hand to brush away the hair and Rodney instantly jerked back fearfully. Now on his back, he could see who it was. _"Www…ww…."_

The woman stood to her full height, and sighed even as the tower shook again. "Yes Rodney… it's me."

"_Yes it is."_

The woman turned and drew her high powered energy sidearm, she held it perfectly to the head of the Asuran standing at the doorway. But the Asuran didn't do anything, and simply held her hand on the jamb to keep from swaying as the tower rocked. "Don't come any closer…! I've already killed two of you today."

Talia shook her head, and looked to Rodney. "He has been damaged. His brain cannot comprehend you or his surroundings. It has rewired its neural interface to utilize all his brain power without risk of organ failure."

The woman kept the gun on Talia and moved closer to Rodney. "You aren't getting any closer to him… I'm taking him."

Talia again shook her head. "You will not escape… you will need my help."

Now the situation was getting strange, and the woman narrowed her eyes. "Why would you help me? Niam's followers are already with me."

"I am not of Niam's faction… I am not looking for ascension."

The woman knelt down and picked up Rodney with one arm even as she kept the gun on Talia. "That's good because you're all about to be reduced to molten atoms."

Cocking her head, Talia seemed intrigued. Hooking into the planetary system, she realized what the woman was talking about. "_Koracen_… he was always clever… a delayed feedback loop into the Potentia's entire grid… This solar system will…"

Now moving aside, the woman pulled Rodney along like a disinterested mule. "…_burned to nothing!_ Now if you _really_ want to help do it or else I'm just going to shoot now!"

Talia nodded, and turned around. Before she left the room though she said one final bit. "You will need to repair him. He will not survive on his own."

"He will not be alone…"

Talia turned her head and spoke without emotion. "His memory is out of date. Atlantis is not where he believes it to be."

Now the woman stopped, her plan had just developed a serious snag. She looked to the disheveled man hanging off her and tried to think. "Do you have any idea where Atlantis is?"

"No… but I will disable the security grid around the gate room for you. You will not be attacked."

The woman still didn't exactly trust this Asuran, but knew that dissent did exist in them. "…Why are you helping me?"

Talia thought about it quickly, and then knew her answer. "Dr McKay knows things that we are not meant to know… Oberoth has become rampant, the knowledge is too much for him to compile, it will spread and engulf us." She smiled softly, something Talia felt a human would do. "Dr McKay did indeed succeed in his mission. He has destroyed us."

The woman sighed, and then thought about it. "It won't be long for the ZPM's to explode… go... I'm heading to the gate room."

Talia nodded and looked to Rodney. "Would you tell him I'm sorry?"

A moment of hesitation, and the woman nodded. "If you help me… I will."

No more words, and the two left the room where Rodney had spent the last month. Normally his frame would be too much weight for the woman to carry, but in her current form, it was easy to carry him. The woman felt sorrow though, Rodney looked so malnourished compared to the last time she'd seen him.

To her surprise, the security grid _was_ disabled. Apparently Talia was honest with her pledge of support. It wasn't long for the woman to pull Rodney to the facsimile of the gate room in Atlantis. "Rodney… come on… snap out of it…!" There was no time, in only moments the ZPMs would overload and finish what Rodney had tried to achieve before. "Come on! I need your help!"

Rodney looked up as much as he could, but the bangs of hair covering his eyes obscured the face. The black leather was so unlike what she typically wore... "_Ww…ww…www…_"

The woman finally reached the dialing device, the lack of any Asurans in the area was a little strange, but knowing her ship was probably still fighting in the atmosphere made it believable. "Okay… okay… where can I send you?"

"_Www… ww…www…_"

Thinking hard, the woman decided to do something that she really didn't want to do. She propped Rodney up against the console and after a breath, inserted her hand into his head. It was so strange to her, never before had she done this to a human. She could feel what was going on in his brain and knew what to do. Using her fingers as surgical tools, she took from Rodney's memory what she needed. It took a few moments, but then something common and perfect floated to the surface.

"Wow… and to think you thought she was a space slut."

A final moment, to implant everything she knew, and emphasis what Rodney himself knew, and she pulled her hand out.

Rodney stumbled for a moment, again trying to recover from the shock. But something had changed and he could concentrate on something… even as the gate opened and Rodney could see and focus… he finally saw who it was who was helping him. "_El…Eli…Elizabeth?"_

Elizabeth nodded as she dragged him to the gate, and she pulled him close to tell him. "_Go_ Rodney… I have to stay."

"_Bu-bu-but_…"

No words, and Elizabeth slammed her hand into his head again, in a fraction of a second she said everything she ever wanted to say. "You'll be safe now Rodney… _no more_… just go!"

Without even waiting, Elizabeth withdrew, caught the falling scientist and tossed him through the gate. Mere seconds remained and she sighed deeply. "Goodbye Rodney. I'm sorry I…"

The sudden overload of a dozen zero point modules on the planet created an explosion that dwarfed that of anything the galaxy had ever seen.

------------------------------------------

"Go on, see how Sheppard's doing… he'll love to see you."

Sam watched with interest as Larrin patted Mila on the back, and the young girl moved forward to talk to the Lieutenant Colonel in his infirmary bed. Sam had just arrived a few minutes ago and was still apprehensive about seeing John, she was sill a little disturbed at having to shower his blood... _John Sheppard's_ blood off her body. "Larrin… everything okay?"

The Traveler woman sat down across from Sam and sighed. "Well… I've been a Traveler leader for a few years… I'll admit taking care of a whole city is just a little harder than I thought it would be."

Sam chuckled softly and rubbed her hands together. "Yeah… I had a pretty rough first week 6 months ago…" she sighed softly and looked up. "Never thought it'd end up like this."

Larrin grumbled softly and shook her head. "Yeah well you're doing a good job… maybe I had to experience it but even though it was only a few hours, I've never had to deal with problems like that."

A soft laugh left Sam's lips, Larrin had done a decent job but it was obvious the Traveler woman preferred her own people. "Yeah… you did good though. Chuck said he'd be glad to show you some more if you want. Said you had talent. I'm glad I can trust you if it comes down to it."

Now Larrin shifted uncomfortably. "Oh great… you flirt with a guy to keep entertained and he's all over you" Larrin snickered to herself but refrained from rolling her eyes. "Tell Chuck if he wants to spend time with me to just ask me out."

Sam snorted at Larrin's aggressiveness, but understood that while the woman used games, she didn't play them. "I'll be sure to pass it along." a few small laughs, and Sam sighed softly again as she leaned against the wall. "Thanks for jumping in."

"Oh great..." Larrin chuckled to herself and became a little bashful. "..here I was about to thank you and you beat me to it…" she shook her head and then looked over to Sheppard. "least Sheppard'll be okay… right?"

Sam nodded, Jennifer had spent a few hours in surgery making sure there was no internal bleeding and finally let him rest. It was quite late now and sleep beckoned them both. "Yeah… he'll be okay…" Sam had been worried the whole evening, and she wondered how the hell this had happened. When did she start to care about John more than she…

A mental halt came to Sam… and those exact same words spoken by someone else… and she finally understood why nothing had ever really happened between her and Jack… and now she hated it more than ever.

Larrin seemed to notice right away and leaned in. "You okay? I thought Sheppard was gonna be fine."

A moment's hesitation, and Sam nodded. "Yes… yeah he'll be okay…"

"…There something between you two?" Larrin said it matter of factly, almost as if it were something hidden that she'd just realized.

Sam flinched softly, and was thankful most of the medical staff was far enough to not hear anything. "What?! No…! No… I'm his commanding officer!"

Seemingly not getting the point, Larrin shook her head in disbelief. "Uhh and that means what? Come on, you don't find him attractive?"

Now completely embarrassed, Sam scoffed and turned away chuckling. She could feel the heat on her cheeks from blushing. "That… that's not my point… My people try and keep from making emotional attachments between military officers… keep us focused."

Larrin screwed her face in thought. "Uhh okay… my people never did anything like that… living in space we make due with what we've got and uhh…" She smirked softly and looked towards the infirmary beds. "…what we can find."

Sam couldn't help but feel a little jealous, but she couldn't tell whether it was just because of Larrin's lifestyle and the Traveler culture compared to her own, and the issues it had brought up to her, or whether it was more personal… and much closer to her than she wanted to admit. "Well… that I can understand… but…well… we still discourage emotional or romantic attachments in our military… especially between commanders and subordinates."

Getting up from her seat, Larrin stretched her shoulders and yawned softly. "Well don't take this the wrong way… but I think you might be breaking your own rules… the emotional ones anyway." She smirked and shook her head idly. "Can't say I blame you… he does get to ya…"

A silent laugh, and Sam nodded. "Yeah… yeah he does, and we _are _friends..." she turned to look at the infirmary curtain where he lay. "...I just don't like seeing my friends get hurt."

"You and me both..." Larrin smiled and shook her head idly as she gazed longingly towards Sheppard's private room. "Tell him I said he should stop playing with his wood so much if he doesn't want to get hurt would you? I'm going to bed…"

Wincing and struggling to keep from laughing at Larrin's ridiculously suggestive teasing, Sam still had enough concentration to ask. "_Oh lord… _you're not gonna see him?"

Larrin shook her head. "Nah… He'll be stuck here a few days… I've got _plenty_ of time to tease him. I figure I owe him _one_ night of peace. Good night Colonel. Could you tell Mila I'm waiting for her?"

Sam smirked, and looked up at Larrin. "Sure…and please…call me Sam..,"

"Alright… good night… Sam."

The Traveler woman left the room quietly, leaving the young traveler girl still laughing and chatting with the wounded Sheppard. Sam decided that now was as good a time as any and got up to see how John was doing.

She'd hesitated to go so soon… Larrin's rather forward question had been on her mind ever since coming back from Earth, and she wanted to steer clear of any issues. It was ridiculous, but Sam knew from experience that the walls had ears and gossip was the official sport of the city. So as Sam neared his bed, she kept her smile professional… mostly.

John for that matter saw her, and quickly motioned to Mila. "Hey… come here."

Before Sam could reach the bedside, John whispered something to Mila. She smiled and nodded with a huge grin. "Okay. Our secret!"

With a childish grin and nod of his head John replied. "Our secret!"

Sam chuckled as she moved closer, now a little surprised at how well John had won the girl's heart. "Mila… Larrin's waiting for you outside…so say bye and I promise you can visit later."

"Already? Aww… okay… bye Sheppy!"

With a chuckle John shook his head idly. "Bye Milly, don't get into too much trouble... or at least don't get caught."

Sam watched the young Traveler laugh as she left the room. John and Sam were alone now, most of the medical staff having put in for the night. It took her a few seconds but she turned with a slightly teasing expression. "_Sheppy? Milly_?"

John rolled his eyes. "Kids…" his smile was genuine, and the trace of narcotic painkillers was evident in his gaze. "So Larrin's not gonna visit? Why am I so grateful?"

Sam laughed a bit at his obvious relief. "She said she'd come see you tomorrow, something about teasing you and some phrases I'd rather not repeat…"

Now they both laughed, and John groaned softly. "Any luck and Keller can use one of those healing gizmos and I can get outta here…" He looked up at Sam and skillfully changed the subject. "…I was kinda wondering when you'd show up."

With a shrug, Sam smiled softly. "Got a little busy… but I didn't want to settle in for the night without paying a visit."

"Well… you did pull my ass outta there. Don't think I don't appreciate you suitin' up."

A little bashful now, Sam shook her head. "Nah… it was nothing really. I'd do it again in a heartbeat and you know it."

John's smile turned into something else… the kind where it's more than just mirth. "Yeah…I do."

A few moments of silence, it should have felt awkward, but at that moment it didn't. When had they become so comfortable with each other? Both were thinking the same thing, and the memory of how it came to this flooded back.

---------------------------------------------------

Sam had both the plastic bag with the plushies in it in one hand, as well as the takeout bag with what was left of her second dinner from the bar and grill across the street. The other arm was busy linked with John's as they walked through the hallway of their hotel.

After buying the Chess Set, they had ordered a car and John offered to take her to dinner. When Sam's question of _'Then what the hell did we just do here?'_ was answered by John's deadpanning of _'That wasn't food. That was ridiculously overpriced vapor and foam designed to simulate food. THAT was entertainment. Now are we actually gonna get something to eat? I'm starving!'_, Sam gladly accepted as her stomach was quite less than full.

Now satisfied from choice selections from the menu at Spanky's Bar and Grill along with some funny memories of bar games, John was walking her back to the door. A little muted fear remained that he might attempt something… in fact she didn't know whether she'd be insulted if he did or didn't… Certainly if this were another man… someone not in the military…

But that was just it. This wasn't another man. and he _was _in the military. Another man doing the same things would have seemed fake, insincere. Pete had taught her a hard lesson about men and she'd taken it to heart. Never again would she fall into desperation and wanting to hold onto something she knew wasn't what she wanted.

John was different. Sam knew damn well he was being perfectly honest the entire night. Perhaps it was the almost 4 years he'd spent in Pegasus that made him do what he did tonight. Certainly Sam herself had quite a savings from so many years living on base… spending months at a time off-world. John was simply letting loose a bit… and she couldn't blame him. An inheritance like _that_ and certainly she might do something crazy.

That's what made this so terrifying. Sam didn't know what she would do if he _did_ attempt something... even something as innocuous as a kiss goodnight made her apprehensive. "Here's my room."

Unlinking their arms, but still holding her hand, John smiled to her. "Yeah… mine's just around the corner."

A few chuckles, and Sam looked at John to search for what he wanted. It was a strange thing for her to see a man looking at her with... camaraderie, care, but a certain level of attraction was there too... but nothing that immediately threatened her. "John… thanks."

"Oh? What for?"

Shoving him playfully, Sam chuckled. "For _everything_… I had a lot of fun tonight…" She leaned forward and gave him a reassuring hug. He met it with an equal force hug, and then let go at just the right moment… not too short to be uncomfortable… not too long to be lingering. That was all the proof Sam needed that he wasn't after anything… _improper._

So when John turned to leave, and suddenly found his hand trapped in hers still and holding him in place, he turned a curious glance. "Ehh…? Sam… I kinda need my arm."

With a devious smile, Sam almost whispered. "What? We're not gonna give that ridiculously overpriced chess set a go?"

His eyebrows raised, John smiled back. "Ahh… well… I guess we have time for one game."

That one game ended up taking a lot longer than either of them expected. Both were high level players apparently and the only place big enough to fit both the board and themselves comfortably just happened to be the queen sized bed in Sam's room. Both had changed into more casual clothes, and now they were more interested in their chat than the game itself.

They spoke about missions, people they'd met, people they'd like to meet, even played 20 questions at one point. The similarities between them were comical, and the conversation was very lighthearted. Sam had told him of the space race, and John swore if it ever happened to him he'd take a Jumper. Upon hearing of John's encounters with Lucius, Sam had howled with laughter and recalled her own encounters with quirky people.

It was a conversation they'd only touched on back in Atlantis, Sam knew John had just as many experiences in Pegasus as she had in the Milky Way... It was intriguing to hear him talk about the places he'd visited and the strange customs he'd taken part in. Sam rebutted with her own stories that John listened to like an interested child to a bedtime story.

Sam did note throughout the whole conversation though that he rarely if ever dropped any hints of his personal life outside Atlantis… something that made her even more curious about him. But it wasn't until late in the game that something happened that neither was expecting.

John had just moved his hand as he lay on the bed to pick up his Knight when a drop of his blood from the stitches on his hand fell and hit the board. It beaded momentarily, but then began to dry. Sam noticed instantly, and ignoring any argument from him, pulled a napkin from the side and began to dab at the wound.

As she held his hand though, a thought came to her. "John… why do you wear that wrist band? I don't think I've ever seen you without it."

Suddenly pulling back a bit, John became a little more concise with his answers. "Well… I like the way it looks…"

Narrowing her eyes, Sam tried to recall a time she'd seen him without it. Not surprisingly she couldn't. "...You've been wearing it all night… even when you had the suit on you had it… I could feel it when we were dancing."

"Sam…" Now seemingly self-conscious, this was a very un-John like characteristic.

Sam could see his reluctance, and she finished cleaning his cuts. "You know what...? it's okay John… you don't have to tell me."

Letting a groan out, especially because he'd found himself so comfortable with his boss all night and now having it all shatter because of the stupid thing on his wrist, John took a second to sigh and finally replied. "… Do you really wanna know?"

Seeing that John was finally being a little more open, Sam nodded gently. "Well… it's obviously important to you… I wouldn't ask if I didn't… well…yeah… I do want to know."

Sighing, John took another few seconds to himself as he closed his eyes and then motioned with his chin. "Promise me you won't tell anyone?"

"Hmm?"

Flipping his hand around and taking hers, John stared straight at her. "_Promise me_ you won't tell anyone…"

"…Yeah… I promise."

"…Go ahead…"

Sam didn't need anymore encouragement. She pulled his hand closer and began to untie the knots on the leather armband. Instantly she noticed a tan line and wondered just how long he'd been wearing this thing.

Once she had it all undone, she gently pulled it off his wrist and set it down on the bed. It took a few seconds for her to notice it, but there were three lines drawn on on his wrist. They looked surprisingly familiar. "A tattoo? Well that's not…" looking closely, now she recognized it. "Wait… wait a second."

John scoffed softly. "Oh yeah… you know what it is."

Running her fingers on his wrist, she followed the wave as it traveled along his wrist. "Is… is that a Bessel Function?"

A slight wince, and John nodded. "Yeah…"

"Wha…. Why would you get a Bessel Function on your…?" She looked at John carefully now, and could see that there was a story behind it. "You studied math didn't you…? In University?"

Again a nod, and drew his hand back. "Yeah… Stanford is high tech… did theoretical math's and advanced avionics..."

Sam was amazed, she knew John was a smart one, but not _that_ smart. "I'm… wow… that's…" Another second of blusteryness, and finally she asked. "No offense John… but how'd you end up in the Air Force?"

A smile creased his face now, and John recounted the tale. "Well… I told you my dad had my life planned at 14 right?"

"Yeah."

"Well I had my plan at 18. Graduated high school…got this…" He pointed to his wrist "…god I just wanted to piss him off… ended up getting a scholarship for pretty much any school I wanted…Dad wanted Harvard… I wanted to get the hell away… I chose Stanford because it was the farthest away… only lucky they had such good programs." He laughed to himself a bit, and rubbed his wrist pensitively. "The plan was graduate with honors in math's and avionics… go work at Lockheed or Concorde at the time…"

Sam could understand the excitement, especially if he was good at it. But she could tell that now with his father recently dead… he just might be feeling bad about what he'd done so many years ago. "What happened?"

John started to chuckle mindlessly, almost in disbelief. "Ha… second year I took a chopper lesson. Never forget that… it was just…_sooo_…" the look of nostalgia in his eyes said it all.

"You fell in love with flying… not just the engineering."

A nod, and a continued reply. "…all of a sudden Lockheed and Concorde aren't looking so good… I wanted to _fly_… I wanted to go up there and tear the sky apart… and who had the best planes?"

Finally understanding, Sam nodded. "The Air Force."

"Yep… when I told my dad he flipped his lid… I guess he was worried but I made my choice."

Sam reached over and rubbed his hand,. "I'm sorry John… I… I know what that's like."

A small laugh of resignment, and John rubbed her hand back. "I'm not surprised… a general for a dad must have been…" Looking at Sam he could see that while she understood him, she didn't experience the same pain he had. It was also plain that she didn't want to talk about Major General Jacob Carter... He pushed forward instead of dwelling on the subject. "Anyways… After basic and flight training I end up in Bosnia… that's where I got this from." He held up the wrist band. "My uhh… my wing mates saw this thing and figured out what it was… my first call sign was Einstein… not exactly what I had in mind."

Sam smiled and chuckled softly, her head now lying on the pillow she napped on. "John "Einstein' Sheppard… I can sorta see it."

The groan from John's lips told her his feelings on the matter. "_Oh god_… please Sam… don't tell anyone… Keller knows but she doesn't know what it is… just tell me you won't tell any scientists on base."

A giggle, and Sam grinned deviously. "Of course… but I should warn you… I'm a scientist myself."

Rolling his eyes, John propped himself up. "I know…! I'm worried you'll be calling me to help Zelenka with some Naquadah power generators one of these days now…"

"_Oh god… I'd never do that_…" A faint smile traced her lips, and Sam spoke softly. "So that's why you hide it?" John nodded, and Sam couldn't help but understand. He'd been so sure of what he was going to do, but then out of the blue something else came his way and his life changed… just like so many things that happened to people…

They had a few moments of silence as John looked at his hand. It should have been awkward, but for the moment both were content to just lie there and contemplate things. After a few seconds though, John saw that even though Sam had cleaned the wound, it was still a little messy. "Hey… I'm uhh... I'm gonna wash up… back in a minute."

Sam nodded and smiled. "Sure… it's your move!"

Another bit of laughing, and John walked into the washroom. It felt oddly good to let go of such an old demon. He was surprised that Sam seemed to understand and simply accept his troubled relationship with his family… almost as if she knew what it was like. John took his time cleaning the cut, and it had only been 2 or 3 minutes before he finished and hopped out of the washroom.

He headed back towards the bed, but noticed instantly that Sam's eyes were closed as she lay on the pillow. He noted the time… 1:38 am… _really_ late considering they'd gotten up around 6 in the morning. John scoffed softly as he saw her sleep with her casual clothes still on, the Blue Dress he'd bought on the rack nearby. John took some care and gently pulled his armband out of her hand, then pulled the blanket up to tuck her in.

He hesitated a moment… an urge he wasn't expecting… John couldn't help but notice right now that Sam was indeed a rather attractive woman… a rather attractive woman he was finding himself even more attracted to.

John knew that tonight shouldn't have happened… it _wouldn't_ have happened if things went differently. But they had gone this way and now he sighed as he pulled the blanket up to her neck.

He turned around, and using a paper and a pen, John quickly scribbled a note for her when she woke up. He tossed it onto the chessboard and crouched next to the bed,. "Good night Sam." John planted a small soft kiss on her right temple as he whispered, the action drawing a small sigh and shifting in Sam's form under the blanket, but she remained asleep. John rubbed his face, realized he needed sleep too and left the room without another thought.

On the note in the morning, Sam found herself staring at the chessboard after reading these words. "_Checkmate in 4 moves… good game."_

_----------------------------------------------_

Sam looked down at John and finally spoke again. "If you'd like, I can swing by your quarters tomorrow and bring that chess set. We can play a game over lunch.'

The smile on John's lips was wide. "Really? Cool."

Laughing at his self-imposed lack of vocabulary, Sam leaned forward a bit and took his hand. "I promise we'll play if you take it easy… I need you frosty John… We all do." He didn't reply, and only smiled back. Sam leaned forward even more and gave his temple a soft kiss good night. His look of shock was exactly what Sam was hoping for, and now she could drop the bomb on him.

"I wasn't totally asleep that night in DC… now we're even."

She squeezed his hand once, then turned and left with a devious grin. John was left dumbfounded but feeling a little better than he had before… not only because things were so comfortable and nonthreatening with Sam evidently, but Mila had told him of her discovery with Dr Zelenka… and the beginnings of a plan had formed in his mind.

------------------------------------------------

_A/N: Yes yes... but before you all start going on about my pairings, I'll have you know that by the end of this series (at least these eleven episodes) I won't have confirmed ANY ship. I'll imply and hint at several (some are still to come and it won't be a fairy tale by far... although there __is_ a hilarious scene that _sorta _half-confirms one potential ship) and I dunno about you but one date and a cute little kiss goodnight does not make for a _relationship._ (A lot of people have forgotten that word. A relationship is between two adults, a SHIP is people going SQUEEEE!!!) Ugh, where's my insulin? The level of sugar typing "Squee" has produced is just a little more than I was expecting.

_In any case, the level of angst and H/C is going to shoot through the roof before this series ends. It's awwweessome._


End file.
